Volkswagen Group has lost its lead in global auto sales to Toyota after claiming the top spot in the first half of the year. The latest data for the first three quarters appears to confirm that the top spot is again with Toyota.
Toyota has announced that it sold 7.498m vehicles in the year so far to the end of September (-1.5% on the same period of last year), just ahead of the 7.43m figure that VW has reported.
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Analysts say the VW result is little impacted by the diesel emissions cheating scandal as it broke in the second half of September. The impact of that on VW Group sales will be much more significant in the coming months. VW is now bracing for recalls and repairs to some 11m vehicles across the world. The effects of the scandal on Volkswagen brand sales could be damaging – especially in Europe where diesel sales take a high percentage of the car market.
Toyota, analysts also note, is also about to get the benefit of the redesigned Prius model with sales starting in Japan before the end of the year.
