The Japanese car giant Toyota has once again maintained its top position in global sales and, despite a slight decline, its rivals Volkswagen kept at a distance. As Toyota announced on Monday, the group, which also includes the small car specialist Daihatsu and the commercial vehicle manufacturer Hino Motors, sold 10.48 million vehicles worldwide last year. That is 0.1 percent less than in the previous year.
Despite the supply bottlenecks for semiconductors as a result of the corona pandemic, Toyota kept its production at a high level in 2022. It rose by 5.3 percent over the previous year to 10.61 million vehicles. Due to the global chip crisis, Volkswagen had to accept a drop in sales of 7.0 percent to almost 8.26 million vehicles last year.
Thanks to stable logistics, the Japanese flagship group initially got through the Corona crisis better than the competition, but recently felt the semiconductor shortage more strongly and had to lower its production targets several times. In the future, Koji Sato (53) will have to take responsibility for this; he will take over the CEO post from April 1, 2023 from long-standing President and CEO Akio Toyoda (66).
Almost everyone around the world is now benefiting carmaker that the supply shortage subsides. After the corona and chip crisis, however, the industry is now facing the next downturn, because the high inflation and gloomy economic prospects unsettle customers.