Jay
running short on time again here . Some half answers about your question of last week as to the average age of private cars in Japan . Could not find anything newer than 1998 (there is another site with plenty of current info but they charge one usd per article, sometimes .50 cents though) . It seems that the average age has been going up because of the prolonged recession, however , see the end of this copied post, because of shaken (inspection) it becomes very uneconomical to keep a car on the road and therefore people just buy a new one to avoid spending money on changing parts in order to meet the Ministry of Transport Inspection. The inspections are due (if you buy a new vehicle) after 3 years from purchase, 5 years and then every 2 years after that, until the vehicle reaches 10 and then it is every year. Dont forget that even tire thread depth and odometer accuracy are checked on these tests, so the inspection is very thorough. The last site has the most complete info and is worth the read
corporateinformation.com
if you really want to know what it entails to own a car in Japan. All that said, until i can find something to the contrary, I will stick to my " ground view" that the average car is under 6 years of age here. Hope it helps.
Stephan
PS pay per article site is customer.japandigest.com
Motor Vehicles In Use and Cars Per Capita
japanauto.com
Second to the U.S. in use, cars per capita is low
The number of vehicles on Japanese roads grew by 2.83 percent in 1995,
amounting to more than 66 million at the end of the year.
The United States has by far the largest number of vehicles in use, at around
195 million-approximately one-third of the world's total.
Japan has the world's second highest level of motorization, accounting for
around 10 percent of the estimated world total of 644 million vehicles.
As of March 1995, the average age of cars on the road in Japan was 4.88
years. Similarly, the average service life of a vehicle, measured from its
purchase to the time it is discarded, was 9.43 years, up from 9.17 years in
1985.
When compared with the U.S. or Europe, Japan ranks low in passenger cars
per capita, with only 358 cars per thousand people, or one car for every 2.8
persons (1994 figures).
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csjapan.doc.gov
Country:
JAPAN
Type of Document:
Industry Sector Analysis
Title:
Auto Parts & Accessories for the Aftermarket
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
STATE, 2000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.
SUMMARY
The number of motor vehicles on the road in Japan grew by only 1.1 percent in Japan Fiscal Year (JFY) 1998,
amounting to just over 70.5 million. Japan is second only to the United States in terms of the number of motor
vehicles on the road and accounts for an estimated ten percent of the world total of 700 million units. Of the 70.5
million registered motor vehicles in Japan, 49.9 million are passenger cars, 18.7 million are trucks, and 0.24 million
are buses. Other specialized vehicles represent 1.6 million units.
According to the Automobile Inspection & Registration Cooperation Association, although sales of new motor
vehicles in Japan continued to drop in 1999 due to the prolong recession, the volume of motor vehicles registered in
Japan showed a slight increase of 0.83 million units, up 1.1 percent in JFY 1998. The average age of passenger cars
continued to increase to 5.6 years, still short as compared to an average of over 8 years in the United States and over
6.5 years in Germany. The average truck age was 6.71 years in Japan. The average total life span for passenger cars
reached an all-time high of 9.63 years in 1999.
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corporateinformation.com
An examination of the Japanese automobile market indicates that the popularity of sport
utility vehicles (SUV's) in Japan easily survived the collapse of the bubble economy, even
despite their frequently lofty price tags. Despite declines in new motor vehicles sales in
passenger cars, trucks, and buses in 1997, purchases of SUV's increased during the
same period and have more than doubled since 1992. Most SUV's are technically
classified as trucks in Japan. This means that statistical data for most SUV's is listed
separately from that for passenger cars. SUV's commonly replace sedans in consumer
preferences, due to their practicality and multipurpose use. Men in their 20's and 30's are
particularly susceptible to high-end SUV purchases and often spend several thousands of
additional dollars for customized GPS navigation systems, sound systems, car
televisions, and custom wheels.
(...) from the same report
The ultimate end-users of automobiles are individual consumers and fleet purchasers.
Japanese consumers are demanding to a fault. For many, the auto is still something
owned for pleasure, or a tool for lifestyle expression, rather than an essential requirement
of life as in the United States. Virtually all Japanese buy their motor vehicles new and trade
them in every three-to-five years. Mileage is on average less than 10,000 km (6000 miles)
per year. Accordingly, many cars that are purchased new are kept parked, covered, and
unused most of the time and they are traded in at re-purchase time in almost new-car
condition. Japanese dealers resell approximately eight million units of these immaculate
used cars annually, mostly to ASEAN countries.
(...)
. Motor Vehicle Inspection System -- Shaken
The Motor Vehicle Inspection System, called 'shaken' (shah-ken) in Japanese, is a system
of extremely strict periodic inspections to determine compliance with "Technical
Standards for Safety" guidelines stipulated in the Japanese Road Vehicle Law. Although
the actual cost of the shaken inspection at a MOT Land Office is modest, the cost of
preparing autos for the procedure averages over USD 1,000 and can run as high as USD
2,500. In its original form (the current law was established in 1951), the shaken inspection
was part of a much larger scheme to establish, promote, and support the entire auto
industry
End
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