Toyota beats VW as world’s top carmaker

Toyota Motor Corp sold 10.8 million cars in 2024, a slight drop from the previous year but more than enough to protect its title against Volkswagen AG as the world’s biggest carmaker for a fifth consecutive year.

While global sales — including from subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors — fell 3.7% last year, that was still enough for Toyota to stay ahead of VW, which delivered just over 9 million cars last year, a 2.3% decline from the year before.

Toyota had a troublesome year after safety scandals at a pair of subsidiaries disrupted production for months. And while Toyota’s bet that demand for gas-guzzlers and hybrids will hold up in the face of electric vehicles, emerging rivals like China’s BYD Co are rapidly making inroads to the global auto market.

BYD sold 4.3 million cars in 2024 — including 1.8 million EVs — a 41% jump from the previous year.

In contrast, Toyota sold just 139 892 battery EVs last year. Hybrids accounted for more than 4.2 million of the firm’s total global sales.

Toyota has previously pledged to sell 1.5 million EVs annually by 2026, and 3.5 million in 2030. The targets were part of a broader goal to halve emissions by 2035 and become carbon neutral by the middle of the century. Like most legacy brands, it has walked back its electrification goals since then by including hybrids in those forecasts.

© 2025 Bloomberg

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