Toyota Motor Corporation will sell more passenger cars than anyone else in 2023, overtaking Volkswagen AG to become the world’s top automaker for the fourth year in a row.
Global vehicle sales, including its subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Corporation and Hino Motors, will increase 7.2% year-on-year to 11.2 million vehicles in 2023, a record high, the company announced on Tuesday.
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Production, which refers to cars coming off the production line, increased by 8.6% to 11.5 million units. VW’s vehicle deliveries will increase by 12% in 2023 to 9.24 million units.
Despite falling further behind in the global transition to electric vehicles, supply chain recovery and steady demand in North America and Europe helped Toyota last year to ramp up production and scrape in profits from overseas. did it. Meanwhile, demand for household hybrid vehicles remains high and stable in most regions of the world.
Full-year 2023 numbers solidify Toyota’s dominance, but it was China’s BYD that made perhaps the most headlines last year when it overtook Elon Musk’s Tesla to become the world’s top electric car maker. . Shenzhen-based BYD, which only sells EVs and plug-in hybrids, sold about 3.02 million units in 2023.
Meanwhile, Toyota sold 104,018 battery EVs. The Japanese automaker had originally targeted sales of 202,000 units in the fiscal year ending in March, but lowered that target to 123,000 units in November, citing supply and demand issues.
Tesla delivered 1.81 million vehicles last year.
Toyota CEO Koji Sato has promised that Toyota will be able to sell 1.5 million battery EVs a year by 2026 and 3.5 million by 2030.
The automaker suspended shipments of 10 models on Monday after an internal investigation found that one of its suppliers, Toyota Industries, had manipulated test results to obtain certification for its vehicles. .
The revelations overlapped with a scandal that broke in December after Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd., which sells and supplies popular light-duty trucks, was found to have manipulated the results of crash safety tests dating back to 1989.
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The impact and financial burden of the fraud is only beginning to materialize, but Toyota said it would step in if Daihatsu struggles to compensate suppliers and business partners while some production is halted and vehicles recalled. .
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, who has said EV market share will reach at most 30% this month, is scheduled to speak to reporters in Nagoya on Tuesday afternoon about the group’s future vision.
Daihatsu Motor Corporation was instructed by the Ministry of Transport to take measures by mid-February to prevent such a situation from happening again. Toyota also said it would announce a new structure, but did not specify what that meant.