Toyota regains lead as world’s largest automaker

Toyota ended as the number one carmaker in 2015, with the luxury Camry sedan playing a huge role in the automakers rebound to the top spot and followed by Volkswagen, missing the target again and General Motors considered landing the third spot. The Japanese automaker which encountered numerous challenges just like other manufacturers is set for rebound in the current year.

After sliding into second place during the first half of 2015, Toyota regained its lead as the world’s best-selling automaker in the third quarter of the year, outpacing both Volkswagen AG and General Motors.

Toyota reported sales of 7.498 million vehicles last year October for the first nine months of 2015. That was down about 1.5%, reflecting challenges in a number of markets. Nonetheless, it was enough to help the Japanese giant nudge past VW which reported sales of 7.43 million for the period.

VW had come on like a seemingly unstoppable force until recently. Recently ousted CEO Martin Winterkorn had set a goal of making the German carmaker the number one auto manufacturer in the world by 2018, but VW got there well ahead of that timetable at least for the first half of 2015.

But its momentum ground to a halt in the third quarter during which period a variety of factors played a role, including the slowdown in China where Volkswagen has been the top-selling manufacturer. Then, in mid-September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that VW has cheat on diesel emissions tests.

Among other things, that forced the company to put a halt on sales of key diesel products which, in the U.S., accounted for nearly a quarter of its overall sales. The Japanese and the German carmaker published the group level production and sales information for November, while GM released quarterly data, not including the month before December.

On a year-to-date scale, Toyota Group has sold around 200,000 more units than Volkswagen, and with only the December results on hold, Toyota is predicted to reach the end of 2015 with 10.1 million units sold worldwide.

However, all three carmakers reported a fall in sales this year compared to the results from 2014, and a decrease in new registrations is yet to be encountered in 2016, too.

From January to November 2015, Toyota managed to sell 9,285,088 units, followed by Volkswagen with 9,095,900 car models and General Motors with an estimated of 8,842,778 vehicles sold worldwide.

The results included less than two weeks of car sales from Volkswagen after the cheating diesel emissions scandal began. In fact, Volkswagen performed better in sales than Toyota for the first six months of this year but at the moment is facing the backlash from deceiving regulators on pollution levels on its cars.

The German automaker is looking into repairing 11 million cars worldwide and has stopped selling its diesel models in numerous markets. The carmaker has also faced a decrease in sales in China, which is its largest car market, with new registrations going down 7.4% in the first nine months of 2015.

Despite going through numerous recalls this year, Toyota managed to get on top and is now looking to deliver its updated Prius hatchback model. Meanwhile, the number one carmaker in the world plans to increase its annual sales target in China for 2016, by 2.7% sales increase in China as the biggest auto market is set for a rebound this year.

Even if the annual official sales reports have not been made public yet, Toyota is most likely to end up as the number one carmaker in 2015, followed by Volkswagen and General Motors. The Japanese automaker is predicted to hit 10.1 million units sold worldwide, delivering 9,285,088 units from January to November. Volkswagen managed to sell 9,095,900 cars.

GM’s estimate figures are 8,842,778 vehicles sold worldwide. Toyota Motor was the first major global automaker to announce the 2015 sales data for China, saying it sold 1.12 million cars for the year. Now, the company and its joint venture partners aim to sell 1.15 million vehicles in China this year, undershooting overall expectations for the world’s largest auto market.

The 2016 sales target represents roughly 2.7 percent growth year-on-year, compared with the 8.7 percent annual growth last year. Toyota’s China sales target for 2015 was 1.1 million vehicles.