Tesla (TSLA) is trading down 5.42% at the time of writing.
Tesla’s Japan business has been a quiet work in progress for years. Now the company is making its ambitions clear. Country manager Richi Hashimoto told reporters Friday that Tesla wants to be the number one imported car brand in Japan — possibly by next year.
That’s a tall order. Foreign car sales in Japan have long been ruled by German luxury brands. Mercedes-Benz topped the 2025 charts with nearly 51,000 vehicles sold, followed by BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi. Tesla sold just over 10,000 vehicles in the country last year. The gap is wide.
But Tesla isn’t sitting still. The company started taking orders Friday for the Model Y L, a six-seater designed to appeal to Japanese families — a segment Tesla hasn’t traditionally targeted. It’s a clear signal that the brand is trying to broaden its customer base beyond early tech adopters.
BREAKING: $TSLA MODEL Y L NOW ON DISPLAY AT TESLA STORES IN JAPAN
The Model Y L is scheduled to be unveiled to the public in both Korea and Japan at the same time. https://t.co/rwijMlTBM4 pic.twitter.com/NMWKontg91
— Tsla Archive (@tesla_archive) April 2, 2026
Tesla currently has 35 stores and 14 service centres in Japan. Plans call for expanding to at least 60 stores and roughly 30 service locations. That’s more than double the current service footprint.
The store strategy isn’t just about putting up more locations. Tesla’s outlets are built around test drives. Hashimoto said many driver concerns about switching from petrol cars disappear the moment someone actually gets behind the wheel. “Simply increasing stores to sell cars doesn’t make customers buy,” he said.
Staff training has also been a focus. Around 70% of Tesla Japan’s sales advisers have been in their roles for fewer than six months. The company has worked to cut the time it takes new hires to make their first sale.
The push comes as Tesla faces pressure elsewhere. Global vehicle deliveries fell 8% in 2025, and Q1 2026 results also came in short of expectations. Japan, where EV penetration remains low, represents a growth opportunity at a time when key markets have slowed.
The core problem is simple: Japanese consumers like hybrids. Data from automotive analytics firm JATO shows battery electric vehicles have struggled to gain the same traction as hybrid models in the country.
New vehicle sales in Japan reached 4.56 million units in 2025, up about 3% from the prior year. S&P Global projects modest growth in 2026, supported by government investment and eco-car tax incentives. But the shift toward fully electric cars has been slow, regardless of who’s selling them. Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki, and China’s BYD have all launched EVs in Japan with limited results.
Some analysts point to fuel prices, partly driven by Middle East tensions, as a potential catalyst for faster EV adoption. Hashimoto, for his part, said Q1 2026 sales in Japan hit roughly half of the full-year 2025 total — a data point that suggests momentum is building, at least in the near term.
On Wall Street, TSLA carries a consensus Hold rating, based on 13 Buys, 11 Holds, and 7 Sells from 31 analysts over the past three months.
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