Toyota cedes global lead in sales to VW
tokyo — Toyota Motor Corp’s global sales declined in the first quarter and fell behind Volkswagen’s, as a series of production disruptions threaten the Japanese automaker’s four-year reign atop auto industry sales charts.
Worldwide deliveries dropped 2.3 per cent to 2.46 million vehicles in the January-to-March period, Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi said by phone Tuesday. While contending with its worst crisis in company history, Volkswagen deliveries rose 0.8 per cent to 2.5 million.
Already handicapped by a oneweek shutdown at domestic assembly plants in February, Toyota anticipates losing output of another 80,000 vehicles due to Japan’s most devastating earthquakes since March 2011.
The lost production will test Toyota’s ability to extend to five years its streak as the world’s topselling automaker.
Growth in China and Europe have buoyed sales for Volkswagen, which has still had to slash its dividend and boost provisions for its emissions-cheating scandal.
“All effort is being made now to grasp the current situation and build the recovery plan,” Hiroji Onishi, a Toyota senior managing officer, said of the latest shutdowns during a briefing with reporters Sunday in Beijing, ahead of China’s biggest auto show. “This has impacted multiple parts, models and plants.”
Toyota wasn’t alone in posting a sales decline during the quarter. General Motors said deliveries dropped 2.5 per cent to 2.36 million, citing a slump in South American markets and China’s slowing commercial vehicle market.
Volkswagen boosted deliveries by 6.4 per cent in China and 3.5 per cent in Western Europe during the first three months of the year, pacing its second quarterly win over Toyota in the past year. The €16.2 billion ($18.2 billion) the company has set aside to cover emissions-cheating scandal costs has rendered passing Toyota a hollow victory.