Toyota overtakes rivals to sell record 9.98m vehicles in 2013
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Japan’s Toyota sold a record 9.98 million vehicles last year, it said yesterday, outpacing rivals General Motors and Volkswagen to keep its title of world’s biggest automaker.
The auto giant’s highest-ever annual sales volume came on a weaker yen and strong US sales, signalling it had recovered from damaging safety recalls and Japan’s 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.
The figures beat GM, which said it sold 9.71 million cars last year, while Germany’s Volkswagen logged annual sales of 9.5 million.
Toyota broke GM’s decades-long reign as world’s top automaker in 2008 but it lost the crown three years later as the quake-tsunami hammered production and disrupted the supply chains of Japanese automakers.
However, in 2012 it once again overtook its US rival, which sells the Chevrolet and luxury Cadillac brands.
Yesterday the Japanese maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid said it expects to become the first car maker to break the 10 million barrier this year.
Toyota has outmaneuvered other automakers with a “comprehensive edge” in product lineup, sales network and cost structure, said SMBC Nikko Securities auto analyst Shotaro Noguchi.
“They have maintained that balance well, compared to its rivals,” he said.
“Toyota should have reached the 10 million mark sooner if they had not faced major negative factors like the impact of the quake disaster and flooding in Thailand.”
But he warned that the auto giant should not get complacent, adding: “If they only pay attention to production and sales figures, they could lose their competitive edge and wind up in trouble.”
The sales figures cap off an impressive comeback for Toyota, which took a heavy blow from a series of mass recalls affecting millions of cars that damaged its once-stellar reputation for quality and safety and led to US congressional hearings in 2010.
The firm has said it expects a net profit of 1.67 trillion yen (US$16.02 billion) in the fiscal year to March on a sharply weaker yen and improving sales in North America.
Toyota has ramped up its drive to tap emerging markets while key US demand has also been on the upswing, helping the firm book ever-increasing profits, with its half-year earnings surging 82.5 percent.
Japanese industry has gained from the big-spending and easy-money policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with huge monetary easing moves from the Bank of Japan helping push down the yen.
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