I am as surprised as you are but the facts do not lie. Yes, Volkswagen has just overtaken Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker last year.
Toyota announced on Sunday that its global sales, including its Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands stood at 10.18 million vehicles worldwide, up 0.2%. Volkswagen, meanwhile, sold 10.31 million vehicles, an increase of 3.8% from the prior year.
VW’s biggest success came from China. As the largest seller of new vehicles in that market, VW managed to sell 3.98 million vehicles to Chinese car buyers last year, up 12.2%. In fact, sales are so strong that China could surpass Europe to become VW’s biggest market by the end of this year. In the U.S., however, sales slid 2.6% and VW sold just 591,100 units.
