TODAY.AZ / Business

Toyota world's bestseller

24 April 2014 [08:15] - TODAY.AZ
Toyota kept its position at the top in global vehicle sales for the first quarter of this year, outpacing rivals General Motors and Volkswagen.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday that it sold a record 2.583m vehicles in the January-March period, putting the Japanese automaker ahead of Detroit-based GM at 2.42m and Volkswagen of Germany at 2.4m.

Toyota's first quarter sales rose by more than 6% from the same period the previous year. GM's sales grew 2%, while Volkswagen's added nearly 6%.

Toyota finished first last year with a record 9.98m vehicles in sales, remaining the top-selling automaker for a second year in a row. GM finished second and VW third.

Toyota is targeting sales of more than 10m vehicles this year. No automaker has sold that many in a year.

By region, Toyota's first quarter sales grew in Japan as consumers rushed to buy ahead of a rise in the sales tax, which kicked in on 1 April. Its sales also grew in the rest of Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa, according to Toyota.

General Motors had been the no. 1 selling automaker for more than seven decades before losing the title to Toyota in 2008.

GM retook the sales crown in 2011, when Toyota's production was hurt by the quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. But the maker of the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury model made a comeback in 2012, and kept that lead in 2013.

GM's image has taken a hit after a February recall of 2.6m vehicles for defective ignition switches, a defect the company tied to 13 deaths.

GM and the U.S. government are investigating why it took the company more than a decade to recall the cars after engineers first learned of the switch problems.

Toyota also underwent a massive recall debacle in the U.S., announcing recall after recall starting in 2009. It paid $1.2bn earlier this year to settle a U.S. Justice Department investigation into charges of covering up problems that caused unintended acceleration in some cars.

From 2010 through 2012, Toyota paid fines totaling more than $66m for delays in reporting safety problems. Toyota agreed last year to pay more than $1bn to owners of its cars who claimed to have suffered economic losses because of the recalls. The company still faces wrongful death and injury lawsuits.

Volkswagen is growing so quickly in China and other relatively new markets it is close on the heels of its two longtime rivals.


/The Guardian/

URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/132957.html

Print version

Views: 885

Connect with us. Get latest news and updates.

Recommend news to friend

  • Your name:
  • Your e-mail:
  • Friend's name:
  • Friend's e-mail: