Just Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino against VW’s Group’s 9 passenger and commercial vehicle brands.
We all know host bad a year 2020 was for the car industry, and Toyota was not immune to the effects of the virus on the global economy. However, the Japanese automaker has at least one silver lining to look to – they regained their sales crown from VW Group.
Since 2015, the Volkswagen Group has been the top dog in terms of sales. Whether they achieved these numbers by ethical means or not is still up in the air, quite literally. At least 3 of their brands were shown to be cheating on their diesel emissions in order to bypass regulators. Despite the poor publicity, the German auto conglomerate held on the top spot until 2019.
Last year, however, they suffered a sales drop of about 15% across their many brands resulting in a total sales volume of 9.31 million units.
Well, Toyota shared their numbers this week and while their sales also dropped, the drop was considerably weaker than what VW Group experienced. Combined sales of Toyota, Daihatsu, Lexus and Hino vehicles totalled 9,528,438 units, a drop of 11.3%, but enough to put them across the finish line in first place.
Here’s part of the press release with more information.
PRESS RELEASE
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been spreading since the beginning of 2020, Toyota was able to continue corporate activities through comprehensive implementation of various infection prevention measures, and by working together with partners including suppliers and dealers. In addition to these efforts, Toyota enjoys the support of customers around the world who favor Toyota vehicles, enabling Toyota to limit the decline in sales to just 10.5 percent year-on-year and maintain domestic production at the 3-million-unit level.
Global Sales
- Global sales in 2020 were down 10.5 percent year-on-year, but sales were up 10.9 percent year-on-year in China.
- In December, global sales were up 10.3 percent year-on-year, the fourth consecutive monthly increase. The increases have been driven primarily by sales in North America, China, Europe, and Japan.
- During the October to December quarter, global sales were up 6.8 percent year-on-year, exceeding initial expectations.*
| * | Initial expectations were that sales would be approximately flat in the October to December quarter and up approximately five percent in the January to March quarter, returning to the previous year’s levels during the period from the end of the year to the beginning of next year. |
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Global Production
- Global production in 2020 was down 12.6 percent year-on-year, but production in China was up 9.5 percent year-on-year period.
- In December, global production was up 14.4 percent year-on-year, the fourth consecutive monthly increase. The increases have been driven primarily by production in North America, Japan, China, and Europe.
Other Topics
- The global ratio of electrified vehicle sales increased from approximately 20 percent in 2019 to approximately 23 percent in 2020. The increase was driven primarily by sales in Europe, China, and North America.
- The best-selling Toyota vehicle from January to December was the RAV4, with global sales of 994,000 units (up 2.9 percent year-on-year).
- This result was due to strong sales in North America, the primary market, as well as in China, which had sales of 175,000 units (up 37.9 percent year-on-year).
