1990s

Japan's automotive industry overtook the United States as the production leader during the 1980s and 1990s, producing up to 13 million vehicles per year.

In 1990 the kei standard was revised to 660 cc with a maximum length of 3.3 m (width 1.4 m, height 2.0 m).

Carlos Sainz won the 1990 World Rally Championship drivers' title in a Toyota Celica, Toyota's first world championship title, and won again in 1992.

The Mazda 787B won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first Le Mans victory by a Japanese manufacturer.

The Mazda 787B No. 55, driven by Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot, won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans; it was the first Le Mans win by a Japanese manufacturer and remains the only win by a car without a reciprocating engine.

In 1993 Juha Kankkunen won the WRC drivers' title and Toyota won the manufacturers' championship, the first Japanese manufacturer to do so; Toyota repeated the manufacturers' title in 1994 with Didier Auriol as drivers' champion.

Group A Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32) cars won the Japanese Touring Car Championship four years in a row and recorded 29 consecutive Group A wins.

Subaru won the WRC manufacturers' championship in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and its drivers won the drivers' title in 1995 (Colin McRae), 2001 (Richard Burns) and 2003 (Petter Solberg).

Tommi Mäkinen won four consecutive WRC drivers' titles from 1996 to 1999 in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and Mitsubishi won the manufacturers' title in 1998.

The Toyota Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid car, went on sale in Japan in December 1997.

The Toyota Prius went on sale in Japan on 10 December 1997 as the first mass-produced hybrid car, and was introduced worldwide in 2000.

A new kei-car standard took effect in October 1998, and manufacturers introduced revised lineups simultaneously.

In October 1998 the current kei standard took effect: length 3.4 m, width 1.48 m, height 2.0 m, 660 cc, adopted so that kei cars could meet the same collision-safety standards as larger cars.

The Honda Insight was introduced in Japan in November 1999 as Honda's first model with the Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system.

Toyota won the WRC manufacturers' title in 1999, its final season before withdrawing from the series.