U.S. President Donald Trump is clearly a stickler when it comes to image, but he seems to be ignoring that quality in a re-emerging trade rift with Japan.

Trump claims that “non-tariff barriers,” such as vehicle inspection systems and strict safety standards, are the reason American cars have not sold well in Japan, a U.S. complaint that has been made for decades.

But Trump has failed to refute the Japanese side’s argument that U.S. cars are not designed for Japanese consumers. The American vehicles are too big, consume too much gas, and are too unreliable, Japanese officials have said.

U.S. automakers have made changes to improve the image of their products in Japan, but these alterations could be too little, too late, industry sources say.

ON THE RIGHT SIDE?

A dealership in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward exclusively sells imported American vehicles, known as “Ame-sha” among car enthusiasts in Japan.

The outside walls of the store are covered in signboards featuring the logos of Cadillac, Chevrolet and other leading U.S. car brands.

Satoshi Nibe, a sales representative, cited one reason for a lost sale.

He said a customer once told him, “I would buy a right-hand drive car here if it were available.”

Most Japanese cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the front seat because, like Britain, Japan drives on the left side of the road.

But most foreign cars have left-hand steering wheels because the majority of countries and regions in the world, including the United States and Germany, drive on the right side of the road.

ONCE CONSIDERED LUXURIES

After World War II, automobile imports to Japan resumed in 1948. At that time, very few foreign cars entered the country, and vehicles made by the “Big Three” U.S. automakers were considered “ultra-luxury” products.

In 1965, Japan’s import market for finished vehicles was liberalized, and tens of thousands of foreign-made cars entered the Japanese market each year.

However, the oil shocks of the 1970s prompted automakers to focus more on smaller models with lower fuel consumption. German and other European cars overtook American cars in the Japanese market.

German automakers had established themselves in Japan by building strong brands and setting up wide sales networks. They also worked on right-hand drive “Japanese specification” cars.

The appreciation of the yen due to the Plaza Accord in 1985 and Japan’s subsequent “bubble economy” also provided a tailwind to the European trend.

Since the 1990s, American automakers have also introduced right-hand-drive models to Japan and set up Japanese subsidiaries for direct sales in the country.

But U.S. auto sales have remained low in Japan.

Ford Motor Co. withdrew from Japan in 2016, and Chrysler Corp. also ended sales in the country in 2017, with the exception of the Jeep.

General Motors Co. is the only Big Three company remaining in Japan.

According to the Japan Automobile Importers Association, imports, excluding vehicles made by Japanese automakers, totaled 230,230 units in fiscal 2024.

German automakers dominated the list, with Mercedes-Benz leading the pack with 52,761 units, followed by BMW and Volkswagen.

The only U.S. vehicle that stood out on the list was Jeep, with 9,721 units.

“It’s not necessarily as simple as making the car a right-hand drive so that it will sell,” a representative of GM’s Japanese subsidiary said.

NOT A PRIORITY MARKET

Despite the poor U.S. sales, Nibe said, “The long-standing image of ‘Ame-sha’ as prone to breakdowns and having poor fuel economy has been improved.”

In 2021, the Chevrolet Corvette, GM’s iconic sports car, became available in right-hand drive in Japan. That year, Chevrolet’s sales in Japan doubled from the previous year to 707 units.

“It was like, ‘Finally, they’ve introduced it,’” Nibe said.

However, Seiji Sugiura of Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory Co., a market research firm, said “the right-hand-drive model doesn’t fit the image” for Ame-sha enthusiasts.

He said American cars in Japan are supported by a certain enthusiastic segment of consumers who do not mind “inconvenience.”

And even if more U.S. models are adapted for the Japanese market, they will struggle against their more popular Japanese counterparts, he said.

“If (U.S. automakers) can’t sell, they will withdraw further from the Japanese market,” he said.

During previous Japan-U.S. auto friction, the Big Three and the U.S. government worked together to force Japan to increase imports of U.S. vehicles.

This time around, will Trump’s tough talk and tariffs somehow raise the image of Ame-sha and make them popular in Japan?

Sugiura said the Japanese market is no longer a priority for U.S. automakers.

“The automakers aren’t actively trying to sell in Japan, but Trump is telling them to sell,” he said.