Toyota Officially Reclaims Global Sales Crown

[nruggiero]

Toyota Officially Reclaims Global Sales Crown
The Detroit Bureau
January 28, 2013
by Paul A. Eisenstein

Toyota has officially reclaimed its global sales crown, the maker confirming it produced 9.75 million vehicles in 2012.

That was slightly ahead of a preliminary tally Toyota forecast as the year came to a close and locks it in first place ahead of General Motors, which sold 9.29 million vehicles. Volkswagen, at 9.1 million, came in third for 2012.

Toyota’s sales were slightly lower than the company had projected earlier in the year, the shortfall reflecting the ongoing dispute between Japan and China over a chain of small, uninhabited islands both nations claim.

In customary fashion, Toyota officials downplayed the sales results. “Rather than going after numbers, we hope to make fine products, one by one, to keep out customers satisfied. The numbers are just a result of our policy. And our policy will continue unchanged,” Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada told the Associated Press.

Nonetheless, it marked a significant comeback for the Japanese giant which first captured the global sales crown in 2008, displacing GM after seven decades as the sales leader. The U.S. maker plunged into bankruptcy the following year, recovering only with the assistance of a massive government loan.

Full article at link.

[Hitman1970]

Congratulations, Toyota. May this year on top be as fruitful and uneventful for you as as your first year on top was.

[donmateo]

Doesn't take much.

[LetsRace]

Doesn't take much.

[ponchoman49]

And my day was going well until I read this!

[goatgary]

Toyota is in all the global markets GM is, but also has Japan, a huge market which no doubt accounts for most, if not all the difference

[Engelman]

I love it! Not to mention all the "giveaways" to get there...

Doesn't take much.

[germeezy1]

The actual most important part of this article is one that will be the most overlooked, and that is who is in 3rd place. With the utter debacle that many of the EU markets are , and VW thriving in many of those markets their plans for world domination appear to be not just idle threats.

[richmond2000]

to me VW is of more NEWS as they are close to GM's heels
and IMHO let Toyota be NO1 for a while and GM work on better PRODUCT/SERVICE to re earn the sales "lost" to Toyota/VW and Toyota hold NO 1 they will IMHO stay safe as they have more to loose then gain with taking risk VS VW/GM taking risks (hot hatch Cruze- Buick ADEM)
look @ H/K for a while now has taken risks and it has payed off

[Tony's BlkGTP]

So what! That is still not any reason for me to ever want any of their products. My wish is that they lose that title in the next 2 or 3 years. Now that will be very happy news to me!

[mchicha]

Toyota and Volkswagen can fight it out. GM is rebuilding the business and when they come back, they will be baaad... and stay on top.

mistakes like the Malibu should not be happening though.

[richmond2000]

So what! That is still not any reason for me to ever want any of their products. My wish is that they lose that title in the next 2 or 3 years. Now that will be very happy news to me!

I assume you want GM to earn the spot again with better products and service

[germeezy1]

I want VW/ Audi to actually be numero uno at least briefly so that GM realizes that it can effectively manage its brands in a PROFITABLE way that would also make it numero uno.

[Cobaltss_King]

If GM doesn't make it back to #1 in the next two years we may not never make it back.

[ausrutherford]

GM might actually be #3, but more on that later.


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