Toyota Global Sales Plunge 11% In 2020; But Still World's Top Automaker
Toyota Motor Corporation is again the world's best-selling automaker, reclaiming a title it last held in 2015.
Its group sales for the year, which include the Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino marques, came to 9.53 million units, which is 11% lower than the total for 2019. The drop, however, was still enough to displace Volkswagen AG from the top spot.
Germany's largest automaker, whose massive Wolfsburg plant can churn out a car every 16 seconds, saw global production of all its marques sink 15% to 9.31 million units. Its total production for 2020 includes the VW, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat brands.
Toyota's global vehicle sales beat VW's by 223,038 units. The 15% plunge was the worst annual performance for the VW Group in nearly a decade.
Analysts said VW took a much larger hit because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted sales in Europe more than it did in Japan. Passenger car sales in Europe in 2019 plunged an "unprecedented" 24% to fewer than 10 million in 2020, according to European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), which represents the 15 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers.
On the other hand, Toyota suffered less than VW because of its heavier reliance on the U.S. Despite the U.S. posting the worst of COVID-19 infections and deaths, there has been none of the nationwide lockdowns that severely curbed travel in European countries such as Germany and France. Toyota also has a far larger presence in the U.S. compared to VW.
"Naturally the number of units sold was lower than in the previous year because of the spread of coronavirus," said Toyota spokeswoman Chisato Yoshifuji on Thursday.
"But because Toyota and its partners were able to thoroughly implement measures to combat the spread of the virus, we were able to continue our corporate activities and keep yearly declines at the level they were."
VW isn't chasing production numbers as much as Toyota, however. In 2018, CEO Herbert Diess initiated a strategic shift after he took over the company to focus on boosting profitability rather than sales growth.
Analysts said Toyota will continue to enjoy strong sales in its core markets of Japan and the U.S. VW has the edge in China, the world's largest car market and VW's largest market.