Volkswagen has surpassed Toyota to become the biggest automaker by deliveries in the first half of 2015. While Toyota sold 5.02 million vehicles in the 6 months through June, VW has reported 5.04 million sales, putting the German brand one step closer to the goal of being the world’s largest automaker.
General Motors, the third-biggest automaker by global sales, delivered 4.86 million vehicles in the first 6 months of this year, down by 1.2% over the same period last year. VW saw its sales increase in its domestic market and in the rest of Western Europe by more than 6%, while Toyota’s registrations in Europe climbed 5.7% during the period.
The company’s biggest market, China however saw a decrease sales of 3.9% to 1.74 million, while Toyota boosted sales by 10% to 512,800 vehicles. In the United States, Toyota’s deliveries rose 5.6%, while the VW, Audi and Porsche brands combined increased sales by 2.4%.
Both Toyota and VW struggled in Japan during the first half, as a consequence of last year’s sales-tax increase. Deliveries fell 8.2% for the Toyota and Lexus brands and 13% for Daihatsu, while VW sales plunged 17% for VW.
It looks like a very close race for the global sales crown as in the first 6 months of 2015 there was only a 20,000-car gap between VW and Toyota. Toyota has been the best-selling car company in the world since 2012, but it will be tricky for them to keep the crown this year.
“Toyota versus Volkswagen is going to be a very close race,” Koji Endo, an auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan, said by phone. “These companies want to make the profitability side much more important than volume.”
Let’s not forget that the global auto industry faces a stalling market in China, collapsing demand in Russia and weakness in some Southeast Asian and South American countries. In the U.S., industry wide deliveries increased just 4.4% during the first half of the year, putting the market on track for its smallest annual gain since the recovery began.
