Toyota Actually Out Sold Volkswagen in 2016
The Volkswagen Group may be the world’s largest automaker, but Toyota still outsold its German rival.
Earlier this week it was announced the Volkswagen Group surpassed Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker, but when you’re actually comparing apples to apples, Toyota is still top in sales. That’s because the Volkswagen Group includes numerous other brands like Audi, Skoda, Seat, Porsche and even truck makers MAN and Scania. Toyota on the other hand, includes Lexus, Daihatsu, Mino and the now-defunct Scion.
When looking at strictly sales of vehicles sporting the Toyota or Volkswagen nameplate, the Japanese automaker moved 8.55-million units last year compared to Volkswagen’s 6.47 million. In other words, Toyota sold nearly 33 percent more cars than Volkswagen did.
SEE ALSO: Volkswagen Group Surpasses Toyota to Become World’s Largest Automaker
The Volkswagen brand itself made up 63 percent of its parent company’s total sales, while the Toyota brand accounted for 84 percent of its parent company’s volume. So although the Volkswagen Group may have surpassed Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker, the two individual brands still have a wide gap between them when it comes to sales.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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Thanks for clearing this WTH moment up for me...lol After hearing this yesterday I went & compared VW and Toyota repair/reliability posts & reviews I could not see how in the world with all their (quite often) and more expensive repair problems that a VW suffers from, how could they ever pass Toyota? I read owners complaints over and over about their loss on a VW trade in allowance and low used retail sales is just terrible meaning you'll lose more money there too so I was quite confused to say the least that VW was leading, in sales I assumed as did others. It's because they aren't...Duhh..lol Being number one in size but not in their sales is not very good news at all imo. This simply means VW's operating costs will be higher so each overall car cost & repair charge must be raised to meet that annual operating cost for the business. How is that good?