Japan is a land that can be full of surprises. When it comes to cars and driving, for example, you might think that a nation that plays host to such auto giants as Toyota, Nissan and Honda, one that supports such a vast industrial base and massive population, would also have a thriving and lucrative business car sector to its name.

Get ready for one of those surprises, however, because the fleet market as it is known and structured in the UK barely exists in Japan.

Or to put it another way, yes, of course, there are corporate sales but the sector is handled very differently to the UK and, perhaps even more remarkably, not officially tracked or recognised by JAMA (Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association), the local equivalent to the UK’s SMMT.

Vive la difference, as our cousins across the Channel would say.

We could start by saying that Japan and the UK actually have two key things in common, in that both are island nations that drive on the left.

Thereafter, Japan goes its own way with the vehicle market over twice the size of that of the UK and dominated, as ever, by the major domestic manufacturers, which is to say Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu, Subaru, Suzuki and Mazda.

Imports do have a share of course, but it’s traditionally run at some 4% of the market, with the premium German makers (Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz) holding the lion’s share.

While the UK vehicle market is split approximately 50/50 (retail vs fleet), in Japan it is more like 97/3, according to a JAMA spokesman in Tokyo, with the vast majority of sales clearly being to private customers.

Even to seasoned Japan watchers, that still comes as a surprise bearing in mind Japan is a country with a vast vehicle park (some 5.4 million units sold in 2012) and officially has more than 46 million vehicles on the road.

Japan also boasts a powerful corporate sector of course, from blue chip names such as Honda, Sony and Mitsubishi, down to a vast army of smaller companies and their dealers, manufacturers, and suppliers.

Companies, then, that would surely be very well suited for mass business fleet orders, as would be expected in the UK. But in Japan, the fleet market takes a very different and curious turn.

In the first instance, it’s rare in Japan for a company car to be included in a salary package, even for senior office workers. Typically, the hard-working Japanese "salaryman" doesn’t think of asking for a company car, neither does the company think of offering him one. That’s long been the custom.

For office workers in a major metropolis like Tokyo, the norm is to commute to the office from the suburbs by train. Space is a rare commodity in Japan, especially in the cities, so on a practical level, there simply isn’t the parking space available to accommodate mass fleets of company cars. The costs involved, and congestion on the already crowded roads, would also be big negative factors.

It’s a generalisation but Japanese who do own cars tend to use them only on the weekends. Freed from the grind of the daily commute, cars thus become something of a hobby so are driven relatively short distances.

This is one reason why diesel has historically had such a low penetration. The classical long-distance benefit of running diesel (in a mainstream car) doesn’t register with Japanese private buyers and besides, the time old image of diesel being slow, noisy and smelly is still alive and well in Japan.

Instead, "hybrid" is the market buzzword and Toyota has had huge commercial success with the Prius in Japan which absolutely hits the spot. Then comes Honda with its fleet of small hybrid models (Insight, Fit EV and so on).

The Prius, with its clean, green image, exceptional economy and high-tech design, is perfect for the city and short distances and thus exactly the car that Japanese like. Besides, it is backed by Toyota, the market leader, which has all the marketing power in the world to make it a success if it really comes to a sales battle.

Times are changing, however, and BMW is one that introduced new, cutting-edge diesels to the market in Japan. So has Mercedes. Mazda, with the CX-5, is one of the domestics that’s also pushing hard with its new and impressive SKYACTIV diesel – and the market is responding positively.

Yet another difference to the UK market is the emphasis on fuel economy over CO2 emissions. Car makers like Toyota place a big concentration on the car’s official economy figure (3.3l/100km in the case of the Prius in Japan’s JC08 fuel cycle) and it’s this, rather than CO2, that registers with buyers – and businesses.

Building on this, Toyota has since introduced the 1.5-litre Aqua hybrid, which is distantly related to the UK Yaris hybrid. It achieves an even better 2.8l/100km and it’s the Aqua that’s Japan’s current number one best seller (because it is smaller, cheaper and more frugal and the Prius).

Across the industry in Japan, there just isn’t the same concentration and awareness of CO2 that there is in the UK. And car taxation is still based around engine capacity, as it has been for decades.

Back with the fleet sector, this exists in Japan largely in the form of light commercial vehicles, or pool cars for company employees. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Mazda all make light commercial vehicles to fit this sector, while down in Japan’s unique 660cc minivehicle sector, Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Daihatsu do the same thing (and supply OEM models to other domestic makers at the same time).

And yet, this side of the business is something of a mystery. Companies generally don’t release data on the numbers of ‘fleet’ vehicles sold. Nor does JAMA have any numbers for public consumption. ‘Unfortunately, the answer is that in Japan we don’t classify sales numbers by fleet/retail,’ explains a JAMA spokesman.  

‘There is no data in Japan that shows a company bought and gave a car to their worker,’ he adds.

However, lifting the veil a bit, he confirms: ‘In 2012, the Japanese total vehicle market was 46,279,354 units. Of those, 44,960,299 were in private use while 1,319,055 were company use. Therefore, vehicles in company car use had a 2.9% share of Japanese total market.’

‘One aspect of fleet business that is growing is in car sharing companies,’ explains a BMW Japan source. ‘While still in the few dozens of thousands nationwide, the fleet is growing and BMW Japan is one of the largest providers of premium import vehicles for this emerging business. We work with TIMES (known for its parking business) and also did some experimental work with ActiveE electric vehicles.’

Taxis and car rental fleets also have a big stake in Japan’s apparently low-key company car business. Toyota with the Crown and Nissan with the Cedric/Fuga are two stalwarts of this genre (many running on LPG), but on the streets of Tokyo today, you see an increasing number of Prius’ too with drivers/owners looking to take advantage of the Toyota’s high economy and low running costs.

All in all, Japan is a very different and fascinating environment compared to the UK and Japan’s version of Mondeo Man is still a pretty rare sight. Likewise, the director in Tokyo ticking off the box for his next company Audi or BMW (although expats in senior positions can be entitled to imports as part of their package).

It could be said, then, that the fleet/business car sector in Japan has a very large capacity for expansion, but the time for far reaching change still seems quite some ways off.