Toyota surpasses Volkswagen to become leading car seller in 2020
For the first time in five years, Toyota overtook Volkswagen in car sales and emerged as the world's biggest automaker in 2020, as the latter was hit harder by the pandemic-induced demand slump. Toyota said that its group-wide global sales fell 11.3% to 9.528 million cars last year, compared to a 15.2% drop at Volkswagen to 9.305 million vehicles. Here are more details.
Asian markets aided Toyota in weathering the pandemic
Automakers across the globe have suffered as COVID-19-induced lockdowns have stopped people from paying a visit to car showrooms and forced factories to minimize or halt production. However, Toyota has weathered the pandemic better than its rivals since the Japanese market and the Asian region in general were less affected as compared to Europe and the US.
'Thorough combat measures helped Toyota keep yearly declines in check'
"Naturally the number of units sold was lower than in the previous year because of the spread of coronavirus," said Toyota's spokeswoman Chisato Yoshifuji. "But because Toyota and its partners were able to thoroughly implement measures to combat the spread of the virus, we were able to continue our corporate activities and keep yearly declines at the level they were."
Toyota also sold more electric vehicles in 2020
As demand for cars is slowly on an upward bend, particularly in China, Toyota, Volkswagen, as well as other automakers are in a race to tap the growing demand for electric cars. Toyota said that the percentage of electric vehicles it sold last year grew to 23% of total sales, which is 3% up from its total sales in 2019.
Toyota likely to launch these cars in India this year
Meanwhile, Toyota is likely to launch eight new cars in India this year. They include the Yaris in February, the Corolla in March, and the C-HR in June. Further, the Rush, Avanza, HiAce, Mirai, and Raize should debut here in the second half of 2021.
