A few weeks back, we reported that Toyota and GM were fighting it out to claim the world’s No.1 carmaker’s title. Now after having duly taken into account the sales for the year 2012, Toyota Motor, with 9.75 million cars sold has moved past General Motors and Volkswagen to for the world’s top carmaker in 2012.
GM with 9.29 million sales stood at the second spot, while VW took a major leap, selling 9.1 million units, and may well overtake Toyota for the top spot in the coming years.
Toyota was hit by the natural calamity in Japan, flooding in Thailand, a dwindling global economy and some recalls which blemished its image as the maker of the most reliable cars in the world. GM, which itself was in doldrums, sprung back to leapfrog the troubled car maker to take the no.1 spot last year.
Thanks to production coming back to normal, along with a string of incentives by the Japanese government, the auto major was able to claw back its lost ground. The Japanese car major’s return is commendable, especially in the light of the fact that one of the world’s biggest auto markets, China, has its consumers boycotting the Japanese brand for territorial disputes.
With VW getting increasingly aggressive and GM also having recovered fully from its economic crisis, it would be interesting to see who finishes on top in the year 2013. Who would you lay your bet on?