Toyota maintains its leadership in global vehicle sales

We can say that 2021 has been a year of crisis and change for the automotive world. But the leader in global sales did not change. Toyota maintained its top position by increasing its sales by 10.6 percent last year.

Toyota’s total sales in 2021 (including its luxury brand Lexus) amounted to 9.6 million units. Volkswagen, the closest rival of the Japanese manufacturer, achieved sales of around 4.8 million. By the way, it is interesting to note that the company’s best-selling model in 2021 is the RAV4, not the Corolla.

Volkswagen, like other European manufacturers, has been severely affected by the supply chain difficulties. But Toyota outperformed its competitors during the epidemic, with Japan and parts of Asia less affected than Europe.

The Japanese brand’s electric-assisted (hybrid, all-electric) vehicle sales also recorded a significant growth compared to the previous year and reached the level of 2.6 million units with an increase of 33.8 percent. On the other hand, only 14,407 of them were registered as all-electric, while the others were registered as hybrids.

On the basis of Toyota Motor Group, that is, when all brands such as Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino are included, we see that sales in 2021 are 10.5 million units. Thus, a growth of 10.1% was recorded on a group basis compared to the previous year. In this area, Toyota sold 1.6 million more than its biggest rival, Volkswagen Group.

The market where the Japanese manufacturer recorded the most growth was Asia. Sales here grew by 13.2 percent to 3.1 million. In the North American market, which recorded a growth of 11.3 percent, 2.6 million vehicles were sold. In Europe, where more than 1 million units were sold, a growth of 7.1 percent was achieved.