Volkswagen edged closer to world No. 1 Toyota following gains in global sales and production last year. Europe’s largest car maker is poised to pass struggling No. 2 General Motors and close the gap even more on Toyota this year.
VW CEO Martin Winterkorn wants the German giant to become the world’s biggest car maker by unit sales by 2018. VW is on its way to that goal thanks to last year’s global sales increase of 1.3 percent to 6,271,724 vehicles and a rise in production of 2.1 percent to 6,346,515 units. Toyota’s sales slipped 4.2 percent to 8,972,000 and output dropped 2.9 percent to 9,225,000 during the same period.
Another example of VW’s surge can be seen when looking at its global sales and production results over the last five years. Since 2004, VW’s sales have climbed 23.5 percent, an increase of 1.19 million units, according to the Automotive News Data Center. During the same period, Toyota’s sale jumped 19.5 percent. Production at VW has grown 24.6 percent, an increase of 1.25 million vehicles. Toyota’s output rose 22.2 percent from 2004 to 2008.
Source: Automotive News Europe
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