Volkswagen has come out ahead of Toyota in global sales, following the Japanese automaker’s four-year lead from 2012 to 2015, when it overtook General Motors as the world’s largest car brand. Prior to that, Toyota took over from GM’s 77-year lead, which the Japanese company relinquished in 2011 due to production disruptions in Japan and Thailand, according to Automotive News Europe.
The Volkswagen Group recorded global sales of 10.3 million vehicles across its passenger car, truck and bus brands in 2016, representing a 3.8% gain. Toyota’s performance fell short of the VW Group’s, despite a 0.2% growth to a global sales figure of 10.2 million vehicles, which included its Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands.
On the other hand, Toyota’s profits outperformed the VW Group’s by more than double in the six months through December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Neither company has reported earnings for the period ending December 31.
Volkswagen’s supplanting of Toyota at the top of the global sales chart was attributed to changing dynamics in both automakers’ largest overseas markets, the US and China. While Toyota endured an overall slowing of sales in the US auto industry, VW’s performance in China benefited from growth and tax breaks in the country, driving demand since 2015.
The global political landscape holds greater challenges ahead for Toyota due pressure from US president Donald Trump, according to an analyst. “Trump is a bigger risk for Toyota than for Volkswagen because the German carmaker has a small exposure to the US market. Toyota has made investment to build a new plant in Mexico and will have limited options to appeal to Trump,” said Ken Miyao, an analyst at Tokyo-based market researcher Carnorama.
Toyota is set to invest US$10 billion (RM44.3 billion) in the United States over the next five years, along with other manufacturers responding to pressure from Trump to create and retain jobs in America. The Japanese automaker built more than 1.38 million car and trucks in the US last year, while its first assembly plant in the US was built three decades ago in Georgetown, Kentucky.
“The development of the US market is set to decide if VW can stay ahead of Toyota this year,” Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank, said. “If the Chinese and European markets continue to be solid and the US market weakens as I expect, VW might stay first in 2017 as Toyota has a larger exposure to North America,” Gommel said.
The latest iteration of the latest Toyota Camry will aid in the Japanese company’s efforts towards regaining its lead in the US, following a sales slowdown of the sedan in anticipation of the new model’s unveiling at the Detroit Motor Show.
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Toyota should be number one because so many Peroduas on and off the road today.
Thats only msia bro, such a small market when compare to VW in China.
VW in China no problem. Gomen there screw VW up and say minimum 10 year warranty to be given to customers. Also China cold country. So DSG never kaput. In Malaysia, hot country DSG confirmed to kaput. Even VW AG also confirmed this fact.
So VW can really sell everywhere except hot countries like Msia
How come VW cars in the middle east has no issues? Oh i forgot, the middle east is colder than Malaysia. I must say you are a very well informed person, Kunta Kinte.
Please go to wikipedia and type s.a.r.c.a.s.m
What happened with DSG issue then? was that issue just blown out of proportion as usual Malaysian style?
If u owned saga, why bother abt DSG issue? Just like sam loo
It gets blown out of proportion. The issue is long resolved. All ckd cars in Malaysia are completely reliable. Just enjoy the ride. Get facts from the right sources.
People don’t care because the issue does not exist anymore. Both companies are screwed up in product quality, whether you buy an unreliable car (dsg) or a car that kills you (global brakes recall) is up to you.
Honda should be no.1! Honda got VTEC maa…
Let’s look at the brands under VW group – VW, Audi, seat, Skoda, Bugatti, ducati, MAN.
Toyota group – Toyota, daihatsu, Hino, Lexus.
Toyota is selling more per brand than VW.
Anyway, VW was proven to be a cheater in order to achieve to what it is today. What a shame.
Why not you enjoy your vios with super ECT 4 speed auto. Put on TRD body kit and imagine in your mind a turbo charger churning out additional 50 horses. Toyota has proven to be backward in internal combustion petrol engines and transmissions. Toyota is only good in hybrid tech.
Karam Singh. Please note that Bugatti, Ducati, Porsche Audi and Bentley are all premium, small volume vehicles. Unlike Toyota, where Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino are high volume vehicles. What does that tell you?
1) For the VW empire, the reason it is a global sales success is because of VW car sales
2) Malaysian market sales and views does not affect global purchase decision making as it is less than 0.1% of global sales.
3) If you take perfomance, reliability and customer satisfaction in general, VW still does better in its main markets compared to Toyota, in its main markets.
4) For the very first time in recent history, VW has become the sales leader even in Sweden, a country used to buying only Volvo’s.
5) Toyota had more recalls in 2013-2016 than VW, globally to fix malfunctioned parts and equipments.
6) VW has more World’s best engine titles in the history of motorvehicles, than Toyota.
Just think about it …
Well said, Karim Hadir. Now that’s facts unlike the ill-informed Kunta Kinte who is just coming in here and shooting like a loose cannon.