Toyota Moves 8.4 Million Units in 2010. Seems To Remain Number One
Toyota released year-end global sales numbers for 2010. Thanks to an uptick in December sales, they were slightly better than estimated in December. Toyota Motor Corporation global group sales rose 8 percent to 8.418 million units. This includes Daihatsu and Hino.
Toyota sold 7.528 million units under its own nameplate, up 8 percent. Daihatsu sold 783,000 units, up 4 percent, and truck maker Hino moved 107,000 units, up a strong 35 percent. Japanese group sales were 2.204 million units, up 10 percent. Overseas sales rose 6 percent to 5.962 million units. But are 8.418 million units enough to keep Toyota in the top spot?
Volkswagen is no threat to the top position. They had announced year-end numbers last week. They sold 7.14 million cars and trucks in 2010, up 14 percent.
This just in: Reuters reports that “GM, which lost the crown in 2008 for the first time in nearly eight decades, said its sales climbed 12.2 percent to 8.390 million vehicles last year.”
Phew. That was close. Who knows, with just 28,000 units apart, maybe there can be some fiddling when the official number comes in.
2011 will be a very interesting year. For 2011, Toyota plans for 8.69 million, up from 2010 by only 2 percent. GM hasn’t issued a prognosis. Both are hampered by the same problem: Lack of new product, due to the fact that development had just about been frozen in 2008. Volkswagen, relatively unscathed by carmageddon, maintained its R&D investment. Volkswagen will launch at least six new cars in 2011 under its own brand. But behind by 1.3 million, VW will only make the race interesting. The duel is between GM and Toyota, and the battle will be fought in China.
If the Chinese market slows down a lot, it will put a crimp on GM’s numbers.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Just let it go Toyota. Sell a little less, make a little more money, expand the customer base like you used to; product, resale and repeat business.