While final official figures are pending, the VW Group has reportedly overtaken Toyota as the world’s best-selling car manufacturer in 2014.
According to a report from automotive data researcher Focus2move, the VW Group sold 9.91 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles last year, compared with Toyota’s 9.81 million. More specifically, VW Group sold 9,919,305 vehicles, while Toyota sold 9,818,609 units, 100,000 less than the German group.
These figures resulted from data collected from more than 110 markets by Focus2move’s research team. According to the data, the total new light passenger vehicle global market grew 2.8 percent in 2014 compared to 2013, setting an all-time record volume of 86.5 million units – 2.5 million more than the year before.
If the researcher’s figures are correct, this marks the first time an European car manufacturer is the world’s biggest – at least since the end of World War 2. For decades since then, the leadership was disputed between General Motors and Ford, but Toyota took advantage of the US automakers’ financial troubles in 2009 and moved to the No.1 spot, a position it has held it until 2013 (except for 2011, when GM was No.1 again following the tsunami disaster in Japan which disrupted Toyota’s production).
The VW Group’s 2014 success was fueled by strong performance from the Skoda and Audi brands, which reported growth rates of 10.2 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. The VW brand rose by just 2.4 percent last year.
According to Focus2move, VW Group and Toyota are followed in 2014’s sales ranking by GM (8.01 million), Renault-Nissan (7.95 million), Hyundai-Kia (7.55 million), Ford (5.91 million), Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (4.56 million), Honda (4.46 million), PSA Peugeot-Citroen (3.15 million) and Suzuki (2.90 million).
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