Toyota group leads global auto sales for 2nd straight year in 2021

TOKYO: JAN. 28 – Toyota Motor Corp. topped the rankings in global auto sales in 2021, accelerating past Germany’s Volkswagen AG for a second straight year, data from the Japanese automaker showed Friday.

According to the figures, Toyota Motor Corp.’s top ranking was supported by solid sales in China and the United States, with the impressive performance coming against the global chip shortage.

Globally last year, Toyota said it sold almost 10.5 million vehicles, including those produced by the group’s Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors subsidiaries, which marked a more than 10 percent increase from a year earlier.

The latest figures compare to an 11.3 percent slump booked in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The automaker is still grappling with pandemic-related issues which have recently caused 11 factories to temporarily suspend production in Japan.

The maker of the popular Prius Hybrid and Corolla sedan models said, in 2021, its domestic sales totalled 2.11 million vehicles including minicars, which was 2.2 percent less than a year earlier.

The group’s global sales, however, gained 13.8 percent to 8.39 million units, it said.

The Toyota brand alone sold 9.62 million vehicles globally, marking a 10.6 percent increase, while production retreated 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.88 million units, the automaker said.

In December, its global sales retreated 7.0 percent from the same month a year earlier, with production dropping 6 percent, Toyota said.

-Xinhua