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29
OPERATIONAL REVIEW
PASSENGER CAR
Japan
The Japanese passenger car market shrank in the year ended March 2002 amid sluggish
consumer spending, which faltered under the psychological impact of the September
2001 terrorist attacks and other factors. Sales of domestically produced vehicles declined
3% year on year to 5.55 million units, while sales of imported vehicles slipped 1% to 0.27
million units. Total sales volume declined 3% to 5.82 million units. Japanese exports fell
3% to 4.25 million units.
MMC responded with the introduction of various distinctive, spirited new models, and
also made strenuous efforts to sharpen the customer focus of its sales and service net-
work. Demand for mini cars continued to grow strongly in Japan in a persistently defla-
tionary economic environment.
In June 2001, MMC launched the
AIRTREK
, a novel type of crossover recreational ve-
hicle (RV), as the first new model under the Turnaround. The product concept for the
AIRTREK
is that of a “smart all-rounder,” offering a combination of “flexible interior space”
and speedy, all-round driving performance. The
AIRTREK
goes beyond the boundaries of
typical RVs by extending the category to include off-road performance more typical of a
sport-utility vehicle, thereby offer-
ing the daily comfort and conve-
nience of a minivan with the sporty
performance of a station wagon.
The
EK-WAGON
mini car set a
new standard in its category with
its launch in October 2001. Within
the first 20 days of release, MMC
received orders for 21,410 units. In
its first 7 months on the market,
orders for the
EK-WAGON
ex-
ceeded 100,000 units, demonstrat-
ing the broad appeal of the vehicle
concept across a variety of cus-
tomer segments. MMC aims to ex-
tend the lineup with the release of
a turbo-charged version in autumn
2002 to ensure that the
EK-
WAGON
becomes a well-estab-
lished range.
The success of the
EK-WAGON
lies in its attractive, new-concept