World's Largest Automaker 2012, An Update

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

September Production and Full Year Forecast9M ’129M ’11YoYProj ’12Toyota7,681,8915,583,32837.6%10,243,000GM7,054,0006,948,0001.5%9,405,000Volkswagen6,710,0006,110,0009.8%8,947,000Black: Company data. Toyota, GM: Production. VW: Deliveries. Forecast by TTAC

With GM’s third quarter release also and finally came the long-awaited global production numbers for the first nine months. We need production, because the race for the world’s largest automaker is decided by how many cars are made, not by how many are sold.

We don’t make the rules, if you want to complain, do it with OICA.

Plugging the data into our spreadsheet, the race appears to be pretty much decided. As mentioned before, Toyota’s numbers will probably be less than what the current projection says as China is taking its toll. The current indications are a little bit less than 10 million for Toyota.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

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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  • TomHend TomHend on Oct 31, 2012

    Greetings from NYC. Can you get Steve Lang to do an article on how to avoid buying a used car that has been flooded? Thanks.

  • Th009 Th009 on Oct 31, 2012

    Toyota will be the clear winner. Second place could be close though as VW outproduced GM by 150K units in September, and outsold GM in China.

    • RobertRyan RobertRyan on Oct 31, 2012

      GM still includes the 1 Million Wuling Mini Vans, which confuses the issue.

  • Unhittable curveball Unhittable curveball on Oct 31, 2012

    After the GFC,recall witch hunt, tsunami+earthquake, record Yen strength, China-Japan politics, relentless bashing by the media.... Toyota is still number one! Awesome.

    • Wsn Wsn on Oct 31, 2012

      Even more awesome is that Toyota did this without putting 1M WuLings in their accounting book.

  • Polar Bear Polar Bear on Oct 31, 2012

    "the race for the world’s largest automaker is decided by how many cars are made, not by how many are sold". Advantage General Motors, who was always better at making cars than selling them.

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