Toyota remains world’s top selling automaker for 3rd year in row

Japan-based Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced its sales on Monday that reached 10.5 million vehicles in 2022, defending its title as the world’s top-selling automaker for a third straight year.

Global sales for the group, including truck unit Hino Motors and small-car maker Daihatsu, inched down 0.1 percent as record overseas sales of 8.6 million vehicles helped offset a 9.6 percent dip in its home market to 1.9 million.

Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) became the second largest car manufacturer, which sold 8.3 million cars in 2022, after recording its lowest sales in over a decade by 7 percent compared to 2021.

Toyota will continue to widen its lead over Volkswagen in 2023, with 10.4 million light vehicle sales versus 7.99 million for the German carmaker, according to S&P Mobility’s predictions.

“For both companies, the impact of production constraints will gradually ease,” said Yoshiaki Kawano, an analyst at S&P Global Mobility.

Toyota said that strong demand in Asia and an increase in production capacity and optimisation in Asia and North America helped to boost its global production by 5 percent in 2022.

On January 26, Toyota announced that its long-time president and chief executive officer (CEO) Akio Toyoda is resigning from the automaker effective April 1 of this year.