Despite slowing growth to focus on quality Toyota remained the global leader in the first half of this year with groupwide global sales up 3.8% to 5.097m vehicles, a new record.
This kept it ahead of Volkswagen Group which is gaining ground through rapid expansion in China. The VW group sold 4.97m vehicles in January-June, up 5.9% from the same period a year ago, excluding figures from truck makers Scania and MAN, due tomorrow.
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Toyota said its overseas sales in the first half rose 2.9% to 3.85m vehicles. The company has frozen plans to build new plants until at least 2016 and with President Akio Toyoda stating that the company is focused on quality rather than chasing sales volume.
VW, which sold 3.27m vehicles in China last year, is planning to invest US$24.4bn over the next four years in new plants and products in the country. Toyota’s presence in China is smaller with annual sales of 1m vehicles.
General Motors, which briefly overtook Toyota two years ago, reported that it sold 4.92m vehicles in the first half of 2014.
