Once again, Toyota is the No. 1 largest automaker in the world, but Volkswagen is waiting close behind for the chance to take the crown.
Automotive News reports Toyota sold 10.23 million units in 2014 with help from its Daihatsu and Hino partners, the first time the automaker sold over 10 million units in a single year. Volkswagen took second on the podium with 10.14 million, and General Motors took third with 9.92 million.
2014 marks the second consecutive year Toyota has held the top spot, having regained it from GM in 2012 after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami greatly hindered production for the majority of that year. The automaker originally took the top spot from GM in 2008, the latter having dominated the podium for 80 years prior; Toyota also held the title in 2009 and 2010.
As for 2015, Toyota is forecasting deliveries of 10.15 million due to decreased demand at home and in emerging markets, as well as from falling oil prices and Japan’s increased national consumption tax. Volkswagen, meanwhile, is ahead of schedule as far as taking the crown goes, CEO Martin Winterkorn stating such a thing would occur by 2018 at the earliest before 2014’s results showed otherwise.
This should bring the VW haters out in droves.
That’s right, bring on the anti-VW truthers/birthers/deniers! Not a bad performance, from a company whose cars can barely run as far as the repair shop, so I hear.
Just because a lot of people buy them doesn’t mean they’re not trash. I have an old air-cooled Beetle but you couldn’t make me buy one of their newer cars. Pretty much everything water-cooled they made is junk with a few notable exceptions.
VW encompasses a whole lot more than VW, so no great surprise it is performing well. If all they offered were glorified VW Bugs and Polo’s they would not be going anywhere
I guess this is why VW is so casual about bringing new CUVs to the USDM. They don’t care about us unless the pickings are easy.
Not sure that is the case, but I would agree their focus is not here, just imagine if they ever sold what Nissan sold here in sales numbers, they would be number 1, maybe they will figure it out one day or maybe they do not need big numbers in the U S to be number 1
What? I cannot interpret what this says. This article is about sales numbers, and TMC is biggest in sales numbers. If VW wants to be number one in the context of this article, they need big numbers.
But they don’t necessarily need them from America.
Correct, they are selling many more outside the U.S. and in many cases they are not a VW as you know it
Coming from a US perspective, and the lack of VW-ness here, it’s almost hard to believe VW is just under TMC in world sales. However, this highlights even more the failure of VW to understand the US market.
I really don’t think they’re trying that hard at it.
VW barely cares about the US, they don’t HAVE to care. And fundamentally, Toyota is in much the same position in Europe that VW is here, so it is kind of fair’s fair, no?
If they don’t care and don’t have to, then I want them to quit complaining about their market share here. Permanently. I also want them to stop making stripped down models for the US market to appeal to “us.”
VWs are discounted and decontented to make them competitive in the US market. If they can sell a car for the same number of pounds as dollars, how much should they care about our market?
Where has the “complaints” from VW come from?
Their decision to focus on the global market over the US market has worked for them up to this point. Coming from someone who has owned TDIs since the mid 80s, I wouldn’t expect that to change nor would I want it to.
VW AG is on record about its intentions to build share here and its disappointment over the results.
The company wants to succeed in the US, but it doesn’t. The reason why it does poorly should be obvious, yet their executives still haven’t figured it out.
“The reason why it does poorly should be obvious, yet their executives still haven’t figured it out.”
Of course they have. It’s that the North American consumer is stupid and/or ungrateful.
According to market researcher Nielson, VW spent $691 million last year in US advertisement compared to GM’s $1.83 billion, Toyota’s $1.76 billion and Ford’s $1.62 billion.
I don’t think they’re too concerned.
“We understand Europe, we understand China and we understand Brazil,” says supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piëch. “But so far we only understand the US to a limited extent.”
And that’s the root of the problem: Volkswagen views the US market through a German prism. “The biggest problem we Germans have is that we think we know what the Americans want from us,” said Winterkorn.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/declining-sales-in-us-market-pose-challenge-to-volkswagen-a-938102.html
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I do detect a note or two of concern there.
While theyve made it known they want a heavier stake in NA they’ve never made it their primary concern, and I certainly wouldn’t expect that to change. Concentrating on one market didn’t get them to #2 in the world.
Right. They built the production lines in the US and Mexico just for sport.
VW invested roughly 1 billion each in the Chattanooga and Mexico facilities. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 100+ billion they’ve committed to R&D and improving their existing facilities in the rest of the world.
Global market priority #1, US market somewhere down the line.
VWs future problem is that the types of vehicles that are successful in the US, CUVs!!!, are in demand elsewhere now. VW doesn’t have an HR-V/EcoSport/Trax/Renegade/etc competitor (Taigun comes out in 2016). They also don’t have very competitive compact and midsized CUVs.
The VW brand’s goal is to have annual US sales of 800,000 by 2018.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-29/vw-poised-to-speed-u-s-product-cadence-to-meet-2018-goal.html
2014’s sales were less than half of that. Yes, nobody inside of VW could possibly be worried about that.
@bball40dtw, for the other markets where CUVs tend to be smaller and lower, they meet much of the compact CUV demand with Cross Polo, Cross Fox and Cross Up!.
Basically an Allroad/Cross-Country type vehicle in a smaller size.
The specific to the US Passat and Jetta were very successful when they came out. They sold in much larger numbers than their predecessors. The problem is VW has done nothing with them since, and the marketplace has moved on to mostly buying nicer cars than Americans previously bought. So they made the right short term decision, but the wrong long term one, in my opinion.
But ultimately, as shown by the numbers above – they don’t NEED the US market to be wildly successful, just like Toyota doesn’t NEED huge numbers in Europe. If either company could get these two markets figured out respectively, they would be #1 by far.
That is the surprising thing, they do not have to care about the US market , It is almost incidental to their overall strategy
Makes you want to sign, then drive, doesn’t it?
NOT!
All this is irrelevant to my vehicle choice. Yes, I’d love to have a TDI Tiguan in green with parking assist, which I could buy in the Eurozone, but here in the US market, it has to be compared to the other cars we can get, not the ones we can’t.
I suspect that VW is very cautious about which models they sell in the US. I am certain that a lot of forethought went into the marketing ploy for the US and North America.
Although VW does well enough in the rest of the world to merit the #2 global automaker title, sales in the US are not what VW would like them to be.
VW is practically giving them away in the US! An interested party only has to have a pulse in order to drive away in a VW of their choice.
I, for one, having owned one new Quantum and several used VWs over the decades, do not see any VW product in my future.
And that’s the rub. People these days want dependability, reliability, durability, something Toyota offers in spades. Ditto Honda.
VW still has that hard-won track record of the past to overcome, so their only hope is the young and uninitiated for potential sales.
I would not look for any expansion in VW models offered in the US. What you see is pretty much what we in the us get.
“…their only hope is the young and uninitiated for potential sales.”
The VW radio spot I keep hearing mentions “German Engineered…” 2 times in 30 seconds.
The only thing that’s “German Engineered” I’ll go near is a ShamWow.
I picked up a couple of those ShamWow packs at the State Fair.
Didn’t use them until I got back home and they worked alright but no better than a bath towel to dry the shower or chamois to dry the cars.
In fact, I found Bounty Kitchen Towels to work better for every application I used the Shamwow for, especially the car windows and mirrors.
What I really like are the micro-fiber cloths in the automotive department at Wal-Mart. I think they are made in China but they last forever, and when dirty, just throw them in the washing machine.
I too was disappointed with ShamWow, until I realized the better way to use it. Note I’ve only used in car drying applications. And I was sure never to put them in the dryer, as that ruins them.
But, what I do is use a couple for primary water removal from the car, and then finish up with another one or two. They’re great at “pushing” the water off the car like a squeegee. When full, just wring it out and push off some more. This gets the car mostly dry, and you can pull out a new one to finish it off. The windows won’t get dry with one swipe of a ShamWow, but go around all the windows, then go around again, and they should be good.
Right on, Mike in my own city. Nobody likes those Bosch dishwashers (the no. 1 seller in USA0. And Leica cameras and Zeiss lenses– utter rubbish! Glad you like your ShamWow, though.
CoreyDL, that seems like an awful lot of work to dry a vehicle with a chamois or ShamWow. On the rare occasions I wash our vehicles I blow-dry them, either at the self-service car wash OR using the airbrush wand connected to my air compressor.
Once a year, usually in May or June, I use NuFinish on each of our vehicles. That requires a thorough washing. If I’m up to the task, I do it at home if it is not too windy. If it is too windy the dust and sand gets blown all over the paint.
When it is too windy I do it at the self-service car wash.
@HDC
It does sound harder, but the amount of water I can push off the car with one of those means it takes me less time to dry it than using towels!
I only hand wash my car though, I don’t trust automatics.
“People these days want dependability, reliability, durability, something Toyota offers in spades. Ditto Honda.”
Pretty much any new car you can buy (in North America) today would count as “reliable” in any kind of a historical context. Averaging one repair trip per year does not mean “unreliable” to most people, even if it now lands you in the bottom half of the rankings.
One repair trip a year? I owned a GMC truck for three years. It had to be seen for warranty work three times. That POS is the reason I won’t buy another GM vehicle in the near-to-midterm future.
Any repair work in the first 60,000 miles seems shoddy.
th009, all true but there has to be a reason why Toyota is the #1 automaker on the planet. It used to be GM.
I used to be a devout GM fan. Drove their products for decades up to July 2008. What started out as an experiment, buying a Toyota Highlander, made me a Toyota convert.
We did buy a 2012 Grand Cherokee but that was an emotional buy. A wild hair. My wife loved the color and the styling. She was hooked.
These days she’s a happy camper in her 2015 Sequoia. And I still love my 2011 Tundra. Oh, what a feelin’!
@HDC, I agree that there are reasons. And perception/reputation of reliability is still there, even if the actual difference is far smaller today.
Back in the early 80s when I bought my first car, repairs every 2-3 months were not considered unusual.
“Makes you want to sign, then drive, doesn’t it?
NOT!”
That’s referring to VW leasing and, frankly, if you are going to lease a car and therefore not have to worry about out-of-warranty reliability, VW has a number of models worth looking at. Long term ownership can be another matter, depending on the model and powertrain in question.
Well, you’re right, unless that VW happens to need warranty TLC during your lease period.
If you only have ONE vehicle, and that’s all that many people can afford these days, then the loss of use could ruin someone’s day, week, month.
So there has got to be a self-evident reason why the Camry and Corolla consistently sell so well, while VW product in America, not so much.
That’s what loaner cars are for. You take in your vehicle for warranty repairs, they give you a loaner to take home while they repair your vehicle. Not a new concept by any means.
We’ve become very familiar with several of the loaners at our Ford dealership. Got to keep one of them for 6 weeks.
Not all dealers offer loaner cars. That’s why some insurance policies offer rental car coverage in case of loss-of-use.
I can see it now, someone brings in their Aveo for warranty service and gets a Caddy CTS to run around in.
Maybe where you’re at.
Didn’t happen when we had to take our brand new Grand Cherokee in for a firmware reflashing recall. Lost it for three days. No loaner!
Loaner cars are up to dealer discretion, you’re right. Not guaranteed. So even IF they did have a loaner program, your Aveo will not grant you a CTS. It might get you a Spark.
If said dealer has a loaner program, they would make an attempt to get you an appropriate car. It goes more along the brand(s) they have than the “What car is available to the Aveo owner – Escalade? Sure.”
So the Jeep dealer doesn’t offer loaners. No surprise there. They have one faintly luxurious model (high trim only) which does not attract the sort of customer who expects a loaner. Not so with a Cadillac dealer or Lexus, etc.
Corey-
Lincoln had a huge problem with this a few years back. Navigator owners were irriated about getting MKZ loaners while MKZ owners were getting bigger cars. Now, Lincoln corporate told dealers to give loaners based on what the owner is driving.
If you can’t get a loaner, your doing something very wrong.
The first vehicle we ever bought from a dealer was 5 years old and we had to purchase an aftermarket warranty that had nothing to do with the dealership or Ford. Every time we had to take the car in for work, we were able to get a loaner.
The most recent vehicle we bought (different dealership) didn’t have a loaner available when we brought our vehicle in for repairs on 2 occasions, and we drove off the lot in a new car. Albeit it was a pos Hyundai, but at the end of the day it was transportation.
We’ve bought from several dealerships over the years (with some really shoddy sales and service departments) and never had a problem getting a car.
CoreyDL, we don’t need any loaner cars because we have more than one car, with one mostly parked and used on a rotating basis.
I agree with you that loaner cars are up to the discretion of the dealer.
FWIW, if my wife’s 2015 Sequoia ever has to go in for warranty service, the dealership offers a shuttle to and from home. No loaner for a $67K vehicle. A fine how-do-you-do.
OTOH, I have on our insurance policy a stand-alone addendum that specifies a rental car in case we lose the use of our vehicle, but we have never used it.
I would use it if we were stranded somewhere on a trip, far away from home.
jrmason, different strokes for different dealer-folks.
Maybe in your area it is customary to offer a loaner. In my area not all dealerships offer loaners.
One interesting thing though: When my parked 1988 Silverado was hit by a GEICO-insured lady, GEICO paid for the complete repair and furnished me an AVIS rental pickup for the 10 days I lost the use of my truck.
VW is in trouble because of their MQB system back home in Wolfsburg, just as many predicted a couple of years ago.
This Reuters article from four months ago shows just how bad it is.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0HJ0WL20140924?irpc=932
And remember, in August VW fired its global production chief Michael Macht, and Winterkorn cheesed off its workers by saying $5 billion had to be cut from costs to meet profitability targets.
Then you go on VW Vortex and discover what a load of laughs the Mexican built GTI is.
If VW makes it to Number 1 it will be in spite of itself. Frankly only US buyers seem to have the brains/taste to avoid VW’s products. The rest of the world still believes in German “quality”. As has been hashed over and over again here on TTAC.
Yep, because everybody in the world that’s not American is an idiot. Your such a tool.
Every single manufacture has problems, recalls, TSBs, etc. The bigger the company, the bigger the problems.
You would think that VW’s the company that installed shrapnel-producing air bags, made over 70 recalls in the past year, and inflated its fuel economy performance by 20%.
No, those were Japanese, Korean, American and other German companies….
People that mock the Mexican built GTI, or Golf for that matter, have never experienced it.
Go out and experience the world with an open mind. Your opinions may become infinitely more interesting.
My Mexican VWs were more reliable than my German VWs. The MKV R32 pulls down the average for the Germans though. An MKV Jetta with ye olde 2.5L and 5-speed helps the Mexican average too.
God, I’m such an idiot. I’ve put 60K trouble-free miles on a VW model that has consistently received average or better reliability ratings, when all along I should have followed the inconsistent and feverish advice of internet lurkers and bought, what, an Elantra?
I’m not a moron, I researched my purchase ahead of time. And the whole of Europe aren’t all morons either, even though Honda & Toyota are certainly not juggernauts over there.
Yeah, fetch– haven’t you noticed that your side window has fallen into the door, never to rise again? Better get that fixed, soon. And you better check your coil packs, they’re probably dead too–even if you have a TDI!
The anti-VW bigotry on this site has become so compulsive, obsessive, hostile, repetitious, puerile, and petty. I know of no other brand that inspires such hatred, so vocally here. I certainly don’t waste my time haunting discussions about the Juke, or the Hummer, jacked-up pickups, or whatever vehicle that I dislike. I suspect that some of you are just expressing your displaced resentment at the fears that force you to drive dull cars.
The rhetoric doesn’t just appear out of thin air. And it’s not just frequency repairs, but the Porschesque parts and labour involved.
As far as “bigotry” goes, what are you saying? Now we’re racist???
I’m not sure how the Europeans tolerate VWs, but a lot depends on how they use their cars. And are they going from a Fiat or Peugeot to a VW?
It’s like the “Fix It Again Tony!” saying that I’m sure you’ve repeated. Came from nowhere???
VW #2 in sales and like a big #2 in reliability!
Strangely better reliability than Ford and GM in Europe . They the bottom of the pile currently
Well to be fair, that German quality thing seems to work for MB, BMW , and Audi here on TTAC and in the US , at least on the coasts it does, seems to be more a lack of the right product than german quality thing only us smart USA Americans know about. VW seems to do ok just north of the border, a bigger share of the market than subie has and not that far behind Nissan if I read the chart correctly, hey they cars are not for everyone and they really need a right sized crossover I agree but maybe they have bigger fish to fry than to make something just for the USA, again Audi seems to be doing just fine here.
The two times I’ve crept upmarket to buy an Audi, I got burned big time. My VWs have been kind to me, by comparison. Therefore, everyone who buys an Audi must be a fool. ; >
Last year i predicted here that all 3 will sell 10.2-10.25m i was wrong, didn´t thought South America and Russia would be such mess + in GM´s case Chevrolet withdrawing from Europe cost them over 100k units too.
Next year – 2015 i am sure VW will finally become No.1, Toyota itself predict little lower sales, with NA rising, China too, probably Japan will let them down , while VW on other hand should add good number of units in China, possibly Europe too and South America fall should stop eventually, so i predict VW – 10.4m, Toyota – 10.25m for 2015 and GM finally will cross 10 million too
You could very well be right because I also happen to believe that 2015 is going to be an outstanding year for most Americans. As will 2016.
We have divided government for the next two years so no one expects any major legislation to be passed.
Political strife has been laid to rest, with each camp having withdrawn to its own side. Roles have changed. The Democrats are now the Party of No, instead of the Republicans.
The economy is doing exceedingly well. More people employed and gas prices lower in spite of this administration’s economic, oil and energy policies.
Things look pretty good for a lot of people, including the millions of illegal aliens granted amnesty and allowed to stay in America.
And people doing this well may want to take a chance on making a large purchase, like new home or new car.
It would not surprise me if 2015 will be a record-setting year for auto sales, to include VW.
“The economy is doing exceedingly well. More people employed and gas prices lower in spite of this administration’s economic, oil and energy policies.”
Republicans say the positive trends are in spite of Obama, Democrats say they are because of him. No criticism of you, highdesert, your statement just reminded me of all the posturing and BS that every senator, every representative, every administration official erupts with whenever a live mic or camera is turned on them. As usual, the State of the Union and aftermath was great fun to watch.
Yeah, I’m a registered Independent with equal disdain for both political parties.
I didn’t watch the SOTU or any of the aftermath.
But I do vote for the most competent candidate regardless of political party. All politics are local!
I’m primarily concerned with how well me and mine are doing and we’re off to a great start for 2015.
There have been so many positive developments for me and mine already this year that I can’t be anything but highly optimistic for the rest of this year.
Well if nothing else, this certainly puts the importance of the American market into a global perspective.
The number 2 automaker in the world is a bit player (I know, I’ll get ripped for that statement) in this country.
The future could be very different place for Americans (By that I mean citizens of the United States of America).
Well, put it this way: it also puts Europe, the middle-east, India, China, Japan, Latin America and Asia into perspective as well. You have to sell well in every major market to be a global leader.
GM, VW and TMC are the only three with that kind presence, with some exceptions Everyone else has a two or more holes somewhere.
VW could be #1 if they weren’t a bit-player in North America. Toyota would have a larger lead if they weren’t a bit-player in Europe. GM could be doing better if they could widen their slice in Europe or China, and both GM and VW could be #1 if Toyota didn’t have a GM-in-the-fifties-style stranglehold on Japan.
Exactly my point, America is no longer ‘the’ market, it is now ‘a’ market and that is going to be something Americans will need to adjust to in the future.
For some it’s going to mean increased choice, for others not so much.
What I am trying to say is that Americans in general and auto aficionados in particular have always viewed America as the be all and end all of markets. The rule was, “If you can’t or won’t sell in the States there is an limit to large a player you can be”, not any more.
It will be an adjustment for some to realize that American tastes aren’t the only ones that matter any longer.
It’s not like it was in the 60’s and 70’s when Renault, Citroen, Pugeot, Rover, Fiat, and SEAT couldn’t be successful without a strong American market presence!
Everyone has holes in some markets, VW isn´t major player in NA, but they are not irelevant either, in Asia except China VW needs improovement too, but honestly in Asia Toyota and Japanese dominates so it´s not necessery VW´s fault – but NA policy is bad one – there is no reason for VW not doing better in NA – market share wise.
Toyota is strong only in NA, Japan-thanks to government, No.1 in Middle east and Africa, most ASEAN countries, so so player in Europe and South America, they are truly global brand selling everywhere in every market.
VWs are just so god awful boring to look at, and from the few times I’ve ridden in them the interior is no better.
Worse, they still look similar to the models that have been out for 10 years now, honestly the Camry is exciting next to VWs lineup.
… so everyone who buys one is a fool.
Some people should get their heads out of the sand. I have owned Toyota, Honda, Datsun, Nissan & Mazda. Never went back to buying them. 20 years ago they were a lot of fun. Yes they were boring but cheap to keep on the road. I still own a Mazda Miata which i love to drive but my wife and i both own VW MK6 GTI’s. We like to drive and like the feel of the VW’s. Both cars are almost 5 years old this year and both have only been back to the dealer for the 3 years free service. To put a old tale to bed i had a Mk 4 Jetta before i brought a MK6 and the old window tale was the fault of TRW and VW fixed the windows free for 100,000 miles or ten years. The bad coils only were on the turbos and were also covered for 10 years. I had the 8V too slow. An excellent engine that i put 180,000 miles on driving back and forth to NYC. And yes my window fell in once and the dealer fixed it in 45 minutes the same day. Another thing the parts for my Mazda are twice the price i paid for parts on my MK4. I guess all of the recalls on the Toyota & Honda’s are getting costly so they have to charge more for the replacement parts. Whatever everyone to their own poison.
C’mon Toyota let’s keep a VW product out of the winner’s circle at Le Mans this year!
Having come from a country that is festooned with VW’s to the US, I can see the biggest difference is that Americans care much more about reliability than most of the rest of the world when purchasing a car. The big exception to this is the Jeep Wrangler of course. This is why in Europe a Honda is as uncommon there as a VW is here