Having sold a record 11.2 million vehicles in 2023, Toyota retained its position as the world’s top-selling automaker for the fourth successive year, finishing well above second-placed Volkswagen Group, which saw sales increasing by 12% to 9.2 million vehicles. Hyundai-Kia retained third place with 7.3 million units sold, which was up 6.7% from the previous year.
The Japanese automaker’s tally, which represents the combined sales for its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands, eclipsed its own previous record of 10.7 million units set in 2019, the year before it overtook Volkswagen. The company attributed its strong performance to solid demand in each region as well as the easing up of semiconductor shortages, AFP reports.
Counting only Toyota and Lexus vehicles, its global volume sales totalled 10.3 million units. However, growth fell at Daihatsu, and the safety testing scandal and resulting production shutdown until mid-February isn’t expected to improve things this year. Sales at truck and bus-maker Hino also dropped by almost 10%.
While sales of its hybrid models increased by 31.4% to 3.4 million units last year, its pure electric performance is lagging behind that of the competition. In 2023, the brand sold just 104,018 EVs, well below the 1.81 million vehicles sold by Tesla and 1.57 million units managed by Chinese EV maker BYD.
However, Toyota CEO Koji Sato has said that by 2025, the company plans to have an electrified version for every Toyota and Lexus model globally, and is aiming to sell 1.5 million EVs annually by 2026 and to 3.5 million units by 2030.
While it is undoubtedly expecting to top the sales charts again this year, the company will definitely need to avoid further issues such as the recent one involving its diesel engines.
Earlier this week, the automaker said it was suspending shipments of 10 models that use engines linked with testing irregularities at affiliate firm Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), which builds diesel powertrains for it. The company said that the suspension of shipments will affect about 36,500 Toyota vehicles produced every month.
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