Toyota has regained its crown as the world’s top carmaker.
Rather than going after numbers, we hope to make fine products, one by one, to keep our customers satisfied
The Japanese firm yesterday said that its global vehicle sales for last year were a record 9.748 million vehicles – bigger than the estimate it gave last month of about 9.7 million vehicles.
It was already clear that Toyota had dethroned General Motors as the Detroit-based car giant fell short, selling 9.29 million vehicles.
GM had been the top-selling car-maker 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 hit by the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
The latest results show Toyota’s powerful comeback.
Global vehicle sales for the maker of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury model surged nearly 23 per cent from the previous year. Overseas sales jumped 19 per cent, while sales in Japan, where the economy has been troubled, recovered a whopping 35 per cent.
Volkswagen of Germany, the world’s No. 3 carmaker, sold a record 9.1 million vehicles worldwide.
All three companies play down the significance of the sales ranking and say they are focused on making attractive products.
“Rather than going after numbers, we hope to make fine products, one by one, to keep our customers satisfied. The numbers are just a result of our policy. And our policy will continue unchanged,” said Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada.
Nevertheless, the recovery for Toyota is impressive. Its production was devastated by the March 2011 disasters, which disrupted supplies of crucial components. Flooding in Thailand, where Toyota has factories, also hit car production.
Before that, it struggled against a crisis of massive recalls in the US over defective floor mats, accelerator pedals and brakes, involving millions of vehicles, some recalled over and over, which dented its reputation for quality.
Toyota officials have vowed to scrutinise quality, and have held back product development to minimise recalls.
From the middle of last year, it was hit by another kind of problem – a widespread boycott of Japanese products, including Toyota cars, in China over a territorial dispute.
But sales growth in other parts of the world, including the US and Asian nations such as Indonesia and India, was more than enough to offset such losses.
Toyota is planning to sell 9.91 million vehicles globally in 2013, putting it back on track toward its earlier goal of 10 million vehicles – a target that it had made a special effort to play down after its recall crisis.