Suzuki Motor Corp. beat out Mercedes-Benz Group AG to become Japan鈥檚 top car importer in June, thanks to the Jimny Nomad and another popular small SUV assembled in India. The Japanese carmaker brought 4,780 vehicles into Japan last month, up a dramatic 230-fold from a year earlier, overtaking Germany鈥檚 Mercedes-Benz, according to data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association on Friday. Suzuki also clinched the top stop in April.Although Honda Motor Co. is also known as a longtime importer of its own cars into Japan, Suzuki鈥檚 feat is notable because it鈥檚 one of the smaller manufacturers in terms of total global output, well behind market leader Toyota Motor Corp. Automobile imports have become a hot topic again with US President Donald Trump deploying the threat of tariffs to pressure Japan to import more cars made in American. 鈥淛apanese consumers don鈥檛 particularly care whether vehicles are produced in Thailand, India or Japan if they want a particular car,鈥 said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at automotive consultancy Carnorama. He argues that General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and other US American carmakers aren鈥檛 able to gain traction in Japan because they don鈥檛 offer products such as smaller kei cars that appeal to local buyers. .Auto Sector Facing Deeper Rare Earth Crisis Than Acknowledged, Says CII President Rajiv Memani.The Jimny Nomad, an extended five-door version of Suzuki鈥檚 popular Jimny model, has been a runaway success. Priced from 楼2.65 million ($18,300), the vehicle attracted about 50,000 pre-orders before it went on sale in April, even though Suzuki had set an initial monthly sales target of 1,200 units. That forced the carmaker to halt orders after just four days due to overwhelming demand.Suzuki plans to ramp up production of the Jimny Nomad in India from July, which will probably boost import numbers even more. Suzuki also began importing another India-produced compact SUV, the Fronx, in October. Suzuki has a long history of manufacturing and selling cars and motorcycles in India, where were labor and production costs are still low.Suzuki predicts that India鈥檚 car market will reach 20 million units in annual sales by 2047. It鈥檚 targeting a 50% market share by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the Japanese automaker鈥檚 subsidiary, by 2030.Honda has also seen success with its India-produced compact SUV, the WR-V, which was introduced in March of last year at an affordable starting price of around 楼2.1 million. Honda鈥檚 imported registrations surged about 22-fold year-on-year to 45,107 vehicles last year. The carmaker was also the top importer into Japan during the first three months of 2025.For the first half, Honda ranked second in imports with approximately 22,000 vehicles, trailing Mercedes-Benz鈥檚 25,016 units. Suzuki was third, while Nissan was in ninth place with its Thailand-produced Kicks crossover.Jeep, part of European carmaker Stellantis NV, performed relatively well with more than 4,000 units sold from January to June, outpacing imports by GM and Ford..Maruti Suzuki Clocks Modest Uptick In Q1 Sales, Supported By Exports