TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp overtook Volkswagen Group in car gross sales final 12 months, regaining pole place because the world’s top-selling automaker for the primary time in 5 years because the pandemic gross sales droop hit its German rival more durable.
Toyota stated on Thursday its group-wide world gross sales fell 11.3% to 9.528 million automobiles in 2020. That in contrast with a 15.2 p.c drop at Volkswagen to 9.305 million automobiles.
Automakers have suffered as coronavirus lockdowns have stopped individuals from visiting automotive showrooms and compelled manufacturing crops to scale back or halt manufacturing.
Toyota, nonetheless, has weathered the pandemic higher partially as a result of its dwelling market Japan, and the Asian area typically, have been much less affected by the outbreak than Europe and america.
“Our focus shouldn’t be on what our rating could also be, however on serving our clients,” a Toyota spokeswoman stated.
As demand for vehicles rebounds, significantly in China, Toyota, Volkswagen and different producers are scrambling to faucet rising demand for electrical vehicles. Toyota stated that the ratio of electrified (principally hybrid) automobiles it bought final 12 months grew to 23% of complete gross sales from 20% in 2019.
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