TTAC Announces The Top 3 Automakers Of 2010. Now With Official Numbers

After releasing global sales results of 8.418 million units a few days ago, Toyota today announced the all-important global production number. Toyota established a more comfortable lead before GM. A few days ago, unconfirmed numbers floating around the media made it look like GM had come within touching distance of Toyota.

All three Toyota Motor Corporation companies (i.e. Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino) together produced 8,557,351 cars in 2010. Now why is the production number more important than the sales number?

Like it or not, unit production is the yardstick by which the global ranking of car companies is measured. When OICA releases (some time this summer) its World Ranking of Manufacturers, it will be according to production, and not according to sales. This is debatable, but it is what it is. It also counts every vehicle, from the tiniest Kei car to the heaviest truck or bus. Here is the list for 2009.

Yesterday, GM also announced its official global numbers. GM calls them “deliveries,” i.e. cars out of the door. That number is 8,389,769. Toyota has a more comfortable lead of 167,582 than the 30,000 previously reported by the press.

Now therefore, TTAC announces the top three automakers of 2010:

Note to scorekeepers: Watch out for the fine nuances of methodologies. There is “production”, there are “deliveries”, there are “sales”, there are “registrations.” The most meaningful number would be registrations by end users, but even those can be fudged. Dealers can and do register a car for a day and report it as sold. “Sales” can be sales to end users, sales to dealers, even sales to an importer somewhere. Counting production may not be the best methodology, but it provides the most consistent number. And in any case: OICA uses production, therefore, so do we.