Toyota back in pole position

SCANDAL-hit Volkswagen has lost the car sales crown to rival Toyota Motor Corp.

The Japanese car maker regained its place as the world’s biggest car company, in terms of sales, by selling 7.49m cars in the nine months to September.

Toyota took back pole position from its German rival, which sold 7.43m in the period, having been top for the first half of 2015.

VW is battling the aftermath of its diesel emission scandal. It admitted last month that it had installed software in diesel vehicles to deceive US regulators about the true level of pollution the cars emitted.

The crisis is the largest in its 78-year history and it is facing court cases and is under investigation in the US and elsewhere. It is recalling 8.5m affected vehicles in the European Union and will recall up to 11m globally.

Toyota has also had its fair share of issues. Earlier this month it said it would recall 6.5m vehicles around the world to fix a defect in the window switch.

The issue, which could potentially lead to it overheating and melting, affected cars including its Yaris model with around 1.2m in Europe affected. Previously Toyota recalled more than 10m vehicles relating to acceleration problems between 2009-2010.

Yesterday, Toyota said total sales, including at subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor, rose 13.6pc from the first eight months of the year, although sales were 1.5pc lower from the same period last year.

Toyota first took the top spot of global car sellers from General Motors in 2008. It retained the crown every year except for 2011 when the Japanese tsunami disrupted production and GM retook the spot.