Japanese cars are staging a long-awaited comeback

Japanese car makers will demonstrate new-found self-confidence at the Frankfurt motor show as their models enjoy a comeback in Europe after years of waning popularity.

The Japanese are gaining ground in Germany as domestic automakers struggle for customers.

Mazda posted an 18-percent rise in new registrations in Germany in July, while rival Honda -- boosted by the Accord -- saw sales up by 10 percent.

But the biggest rise was by Japan's largest car maker, Toyota, which posted a 27-percent increase in sales in July over the same month last year.

After initial success in the 1980s it was thought Germany and western Europe would experience a Japanese boom similar to that seen in the US.

Japanese cars, with many high-quality extras offered as standard and with prdustry analyst for DZ Bank, said: "The Japanese did not keep pace with customer wishes."

The design of Japanese cars began to look old-fashioned and inelegant for Western tastes. Japanese engineers also completely overlooked the emerging diesel boom in Europe.

The mistakes of the past have now been ironed out, with Japanese design evidently back in favor. The latest models are technically and optically on a par with major German rivals such as BMW, Audi and Volkswagen, say normally sceptical motoring writers. And Japanese cars were always reliable.

Diesel is no longer foreign terrain for Japanese producers. Early this year Nissan launched a major campaign offering almost the whole of its model range with diesel engines for the same price as its non-diesel versions.

This year Honda is introducing its first diesel model, while Toyota is presenting in Frankfurt a new engine system featuring a substantial improvement in fuel efficiency.

Companies such as Mazda, Nissan and Mitsubishi, which were facing closure in the 1990s, have benefited technically and financially from their cooperation with Ford, Renault and DaimlerChrysler.

But it is Toyota that is now the biggest competitor for Europe's carmakers. It is pushing to capture European markets which have until now made up only a fraction of company turnover.

The company is focusing especially on Germany, where sales still lag behind its European neighbors.