Japanese Toyota dealerships might start selling Ford and Chevy cars under new plan
Published on Jun 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM (UTC+4)
by Keelin McNamara
Last updated on Jun 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
Toyota is the world’s largest car manufacturer – which is quite an accolade.
The Japanese behemoth produces tens of millions of cars every single year.
It also currently operates over 4,000 dealerships in its home country.
Now, under new plans, Toyota may soon start selling Ford and Chevy cars in Japan as well.
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Toyota sits atop a rocky car world
Toyota is a brand that sits atop the global car industry.
In 2023, Toyota sold over 11 million vehicles around the world.
It produced similar figures last year as well in 2024.
Unfortunately, the global car market is in quite a bit of turmoil at the moment.
Various issues, including rising interest rates, are making car ownership more expensive.
However, there is one word that has become the dread of brand CEOs everywhere.
And that word, of course, is tariffs.
The current US administration has made its displeasure with the global market clear.
In particular, it is especially unhappy at how many global brands the USA imports.
By contrast, American cars have proven much less popular as a global export in return.
If you want to read about why Europeans don’t find American cars that appealing, then have a look here.
This unhappiness and displeasure has manifested itself in the form of tariffs.
Unfortunately, the Japanese car industry has been one of the hardest hit.
Present tariffs stand at 25 percent on all imported vehicles from Japan.
In fact, tariffs in their current form could cost the Japanese car industry $19 billion this fiscal year.
Toyota CTO comes up with a unique solution
At the moment, Japan currently exports around 1.5 million cars to the United States every year.
So Toyota has come up with a bizarre, albeit potentially workable, solution.
The current Toyota Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is a man named Hiroki Nakajima.
Mr Nakajima has proposed an idea whereby Toyota could help sell American cars through its Japanese dealerships.
Toyota’s CTO noted that US brands have just 163 Japanese dealerships.
This is in stark comparison to the more than 4,000 operated by Toyota itself.
Mr Nakajima is quoted as saying: “When US manufacturers bring cars to Japan, for example, using Toyota’s sales network to deliver them is an option.”
This means that the prospect of selling Fords and Chevys through Toyota dealerships could be very real.
The need to appease the current US administration is a very clear and obvious one.
Could Mr Nakajima’s outside-the-box thinking be a real solution?
Keelin McNamara is a content writer at Supercar Blondie from Ireland, covering cars, technology, and lifestyle. Despite being a Law graduate, he discovered his passion for journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has worked in the industry ever since. Outside of work, he is an avid MotoGP fan, and is a self-confessed addict of the sport.
