NEW DELHI: Japan has become one of the top five destinations for Indian car exports for the first time in FY25, signaling growing global demand for vehicles manufactured in India, even from advanced markets.Major Indian exporters like Suzuki Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co’s local units are increasingly using India as a global production base. According to commerce ministry data compiled by SIAM, car exports to Japan jumped to $616.45 million in the first nine months of FY25, up from $220.62 million in all of FY24.Although official data for the March quarter is still awaited, industry sources expect exports to Japan to grow further, especially after Maruti Suzuki began shipping its Jimny SUV to the country in January.“Over decades, we have built a base in quality, cost, efficiency and technology in car manufacturing. This has given us volumes and economies of scale,” senior executive officer at Maruti Suzuki India, Rahul Bharti told the Economic Times.He further noted that the company plans to export large number of e Vitara electric SUVs, produced in India, to European markets and Japan.Japan, a significant automobile manufacturer and exporter, shipped 5.12 million vehicles in 2024. Honda Cars India exported 45,167 units of SUV Elevate, predominantly to Japan, surpassing its domestic sales of 22,321 units. Maruti Suzuki offers SUVs Fronx and Jimny in Japan.Significantly, Suzuki temporarily suspended new Jimny five-door bookings due to overwhelming post-launch demand, receiving approximately 50,000 orders within four days in Japan.“Indian OEMs have been not only expanding into key markets such as Africa and Latin America but are also beginning to enter developed markets (like Japan) with globally competitive models,” Shailesh Chandra, president, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said.In the two-wheeler sector, Yamaha intends to begin exporting premium motorcycles to Japan soon. Itaru Otani, chairman, Yamaha Motor India Group, stated, “The sourcing cost, the labour cost, is quite low in India compared to other countries.”“We are exporting nearly a third of our output to 58 countries already. We started exports to Europe from India at the end of last year. The next step is to ship to other advanced markets like Japan and the US,” Otani added.India’s automobile exports increased by 15% to 770,364 vehicles last fiscal year, significantly outperforming domestic sales growth of 2% at 4.3 million vehicles. While compact passenger vehicles constitute over 27% of exports, measuring up to 4 metres in length and up to 1.4-litres, compact SUVs of similar dimensions are gaining prominence.
