During the first half of the year, Toyota Motor Corp. has sold 5.16 million vehicles worldwide. For the fifth year in a row, the Japanese manufacturer occupies a leadership position in the industry, overtaking the German concern Volkswagen AG.
In the first half of the year, Toyota and Lexus sold a total of 4.89 million vehicles worldwide, while Daihatsu and Hino sold 210,910 and 59,273 vehicles respectively. In turn, Volkswagen has sold 4.35 million cars for the same period, which is 0.2 million less than in 2023.
Toyota estimated that in the period from January to June global sales, including its Daihatsu Motor Co. units. and truck subsidiary Hino Motors Ltd., fell 4.7 percent from a year earlier due to production shutdowns caused by a series of quality scandals and weak sales in China. Toyota Group's global production fell 9.8% to 5.07 million vehicles in the first six months, the automaker said.
Toyota's domestic sales fell 32% to 823,595 vehicles as Daihatsu temporarily halted production after it was discovered that safety test data had been falsified. At the beginning of May, the company resumed work in all its assembly plants.
Toyota also closed some of its Japanese factories, which affected the numbers. In addition, the recent recall of the popular Prius hybrid also affected sales. But overseas, Toyota's sales rose 3.1% to a record 4.34 million vehicles thanks to robust demand in North America and Europe.
In North America in particular, sales of the Toyota and Lexus brands increased by 14.6%. In Europe, sales rose 10.2%, helped by strong demand for hybrid versions of the Corolla and RAV4. In China, sales fell 10.8% due to fierce price competition from local automakers that are expanding the range of affordable electric vehicles.
This year, the Toyota group plans to sell 10.95 million cars, which is 1.3% less than a year earlier. In May, the company announced that this financial year it would focus its efforts not on sales, but on solving internal problems, including quality scandals.