Toyota is now the world’s biggest auto company

Leaving arch rivals General Motors and Volkswagen behind in the race, Toyota maintained its top automaker slot in global vehicle sales after the first nine months of this year. It has sold about 7.5 million vehicles till now.

According to sales figures released by the company on Monday, Toyota Motor Corp.'s global sales for the first three quarters totaled 7.498 million vehicles, down 1.5% from the same period in 2014.

Its rival Volkswagen AG of Germany sold 7.43 million vehicles, almost unchanged from the last year, while General Motors sold 7.2 million vehicles, down 1%. Both the automakers have already released their results earlier this month.

However, Volkswagen overtook Toyota for January-June, the first time it had come out on top in such tallies. The German automaker’s sales may suffer because of a scandal revealed last month. It was said that its cars were found equipped with software that allowed them to cheat US emissions tests.

Until then, Volkswagen had appeared unstoppable with growth going strong in various global markets.

For over seven decades, Detroit-based GM maintained its top-selling automaker tag until being surpassed by Toyota in 2008. GM retook the sales crown for one year in 2011, when a Tsunami and quake disaster struck northeastern Japan, disrupting its production.

Thereafter, Toyota made a big comeback and has been the top automaker for the past three years.

Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models, sold 10.23 million vehicles in 2014.

In the same year, Volkswagen sold 10.14 million vehicles.

GM, which makes the Cadillac and Opel cars, was third at 9.92 million vehicles in global sales last year.

(Image: Indiatimes)