Japanese auto giant Toyota maintained its place as the bestselling automaker in the world for the fourth year in a row selling a record 11.2 million vehicles in 2023. This put it well ahead of Volkswagen Group of Germany, which came in second with sales up 12% to 9.2 million vehicles. With 7.3 million sold, South Korean Hyundai-Kia held onto third place, witnessing a 6.7% increase over the previous year.
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The Japanese automaker’s total, which includes sales from its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino brands, surpassed its previous record of 10.7 million units that was set in 2019, the year before it overtook Volkswagen. The company credited the alleviation of chip shortages together with robust demand in every region for its impressive result.
Interestingly, the combined sales of Toyota and Lexus vehicles totaled 10.3 million units in 2023. However, growth in the scandal-hit Toyota companies fell drastically. Due to the safety testing scandal and resulting production shutdown until mid-February, the situation at Daihatsu isn’t expected to improve this year, whereas sales at truck and bus-maker Hino also dropped by nearly 10%.
Related: Toyota Corolla, Yaris, Fortuner, Hilux Suffered Lowest-Ever Sales in Pakistan in 2023
Also intriguing is to note that sales of its hybrid models increased by 31.4% to 3.4 million units last year, but its pure electric performance is lagging behind that of the competition. In 2023, Toyota sold only 104,018 EVs, significantly less than Tesla’s 1.81 million vehicles and BYD’s 1.57 million units.
Toyota CEO Koji Sato has stated that by 2025, the automaker intends to have an electrified version for every Toyota and Lexus model worldwide, with a goal of selling 1.5 million EVs per year by 2026 and 3.5 million by 2030.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
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