Toyota and Lexus also make up the top 10 spots on the most stolen models in Japan for 2024.
Now there’s an old off-roading saying: ‘A Land Rover will get you there, but a Land Cruiser will get you home’. Unfortunately, if the latest stolen car statistics in Japan are anything to go by, there is no guarantee that one’s trusty Toyota 4×4 will remain at home…
Such is as according to the Japan General Insurance Association, the Land Cruiser (and its Prado counterpart) has recently topped the chart for the most stolen car in Japan again, for the fourth year running, with nearly 700 of these big SUVs disappearing into the night over the past 12 months.
In fact, it is astounding to learn that while Land Cruisers accounted for 14.7 out of every 100 stolen vehicles in 2023, the figure jumped to 27.5 in 2024. This meant that more than one in every four cars stolen in Japan last year was a Land Cruiser.
Interestingly enough, it is not just the Land Cruiser that is popular with car thieves in Japan, as Toyota and Lexus models took every single one of the top 10 spots for 2024. The first four vehicles on this year’s list (shown below) maintained their position from the previous year’s study:
| Ranking | Model | Number of thefts
In 2024 |
Proportion of total thefts |
| 1 | Toyota Land Cruiser | 688 | 27.5% |
| 2 | Toyota Alphard | 289 | 11.6% |
| 3 | Toyota Prius | 235 | 9.4% |
| 4 | Lexus LX | 109 | 4.4% |
| 5 | Lexus RX | 89 | 3.6% |
| 6 | Toyota Crown | 62 | 2.5% |
| 7 | Toyota Hiace | 43 | 1.7% |
| 8 | Toyota Velfire | 38 | 1.5% |
| 9 | Lexus LS | 34 | 1.4% |
| 10 | Toyota Voxy | 21 | 0.8% |
Beyond the Toyota-dominated rankings, the Japan General Insurance Association has also noted a 20% increase in average insurance payouts, reaching ¥2,815,000 (RM 85,000) in 2024. This marks a sharp rise after several years of relative stability.
As for the region in Japan where cars tend to go missing meanwhile, Aichi Prefecture took the lead once again in 2024, accounting for more than a fifth of all vehicle thefts in Japan.
The Japan General Insurance Association has been tracking car theft data since 2000, and most stolen cars in Japan ultimately end up overseas, often smuggled to markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. And to end here with a bit of local relatability, just note too that the Toyota Hilux currently follows its Land Cruiser sibling as the top stolen car in Malaysia.
