Toyota successfully managed to retain the number one spot selling 10.15 million cars in 2015 after briefly losing the spot in the first six months of 2015.
Toyota successfully managed to retain the number one spot selling 10.15 million cars in 2015 after briefly losing the spot in the first six months of 2015. Volkswagen logged in sales of 9.93 million vehicles worldwide while General Motors came in third at 9.8 million last year.
The Japanese company was forced to cease operations of its plants near Bangalore
The results immediately transpired into a 3.80 percent jump in the share price to end at 6,881 yen ($58) in Tokyo on Wednesday. The company is said to be in talks with Suzuki for a partnership, which has been denied by both the companies in individual statements. The cumulative sales were down 0.8 percent over 2014’s number of 10.23 million. The figures include cars sold under the Lexus, Hino marques, as well Daihatsu in which Toyota holds 51 percent stake. The company’s figures are split as 9.1 million worldwide sales in 2015 for its main Toyota brand, plus 794,000 for Japanese subsidies Daihatsu and Hino.
Toyota is is talks with Daihatsu for taking over the remaoing 49 percent and make it a wholly owned subsidary. This will increase the gap over Volkswagen at number two as Daihatsu is a leader in Japan for minicars and compact vehicles in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Martin Winterkorn, the Volkswagen group CEO who had stepped aside after the ‘defeat device’ scandal came to light, was the one to push and achieve the long cherished number 1 position in the world. However, the happiness turned into a nightmare even before VW group could stabilize itself at the top of the heap. Volkswagen has had to suspend the sales of many of its vehicles using the EA189 engines. More importantly it has damaged the image of German manufacturer who has faced wide spread criticism for cheating the emission norms.
GM was followed by Ford, which had over 2.6 million sales in 2015, and Fiat Chrysler, which sold more than 1.7 million vehicles last year. “FCA US finished 2015 strong with sales up 13 percent and our best December sales since we started business more than 90 years ago,” said Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales for Fiat Chrysler.