Toyota once again topped the global sales chart in 2013, outpacing General Motors and Volkswagen to maintain the honour of being the world’s biggest car company.
The Japanese automaker’s highest-ever annual sales volume, of 9.98 million vehicles, came on the back of a weaker yen and strong United States sales, signalling that it had finally recovered from a series of damaging safety recalls and Japan’s 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.
Runner up on the global sales chart was GM, which said it sold 9.71 million cars last year, while Volkswagen logged annual sales of 9.5 million. Toyota broke GM’s decades-long reign as the world’s top carmaker back in 2008, but it lost the crown three years later as the quake-tsunami hammered production and disrupted the supply chains in Japan.
However, Toyota retook the lead in 2012. Now aiming for a huge , 2014 looks to be an even stronger year for Toyota, which expect to become the first carmaker to break the 10 million barrier in a single year.
So what exactly is Toyota’s secret to success? It’s a debatable point, but analysts attributed it down to a “comprehensive edge” in product line-up, sales network and cost structure. “They have maintained that balance well, compared to rivals.Toyota should have reached the 10 million mark sooner if they had not faced major negative factors like the impact of the quake disaster and flooding in Thailand,” the analysts said.
But the warned that the auto giant should not get complacent, adding that if they only pay attention to production and sales figures, they could lose their competitive edge and wind up in trouble.
On the other hand, Volkswagen of Germany ambitious of becoming the number one and overtaking Toyota, has announced that at the moment, it moved from the third to the second position, overtaking GM in the global sales race.
VW’s 9.73 million cars and trucks in 2013 outsold rival US automaker General Motors and secured the second place in global sales among all automakers compared to GM’s 9.71 million.
To set the records straight, some still say GM is the second-best selling automaker among light-duty vehicles as the Germans added to their tally the heavy-duty truck sales from its MAN SE and Scania AB units.
It would be recalled that Toyota announced earlier this month it sold 9.98 million vehicles in 2013, which helped the Japanese automaker retain the title as the world’s largest automaker for a second straight year.
Back in the days, GM was the global ruling automaker from 1931 through 2007, with the Japanese company snatching the title for the 2008-10 years, while GM managed to regain the title in 2011 after Toyota production sank because of natural disasters in Asia.
Volkswagen openly said it strives to be the world’s largest automaker by 2018 and has aggressive plans to grow sales in the United States, where it is going through some rough times, with sales falling 7 % in 2013.
By: Mike Ochonma
