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VW top for global sales

Posted on 29 July, 2015

Volkswagen has surpassed Toyota to become the world’s biggest automaker based on deliveries in the first quarter of 2015. Toyota sold 5.02 million units in the six months through June to trail the 5.04m Volkswagen reported earlier this month. Deliveries declined 1.5 per cent for Toyota and 0.5 per cent for VW. General Motors, the third-biggest automaker by global sales, said earlier this month that its worldwide deliveries fell 1.2 per cent in the first half to 4.86m units Volkswagen’s sales growth has been helped by booming car market in Europe, which has accelerated at the fastest pace in more than five years. This has softened the blow from a slowdown in China, which is the biggest market for the marque. The global automotive industry that has expanded every year since 2009 also collapsing demand in Russia, and weakness in some south-east Asian and South American countries. In the US, industry-wide deliveries increased just 4.4 per cent during the first half of the year putting the market on track for its smallest annual gain since the recovery began. Clive Wiggins, a Tokyo-based analyst at BNP Paribas, says Japanese carmakers may cut sales forecasts and need cost reductions and currency gains to avoid having to reduce their outlook for earnings. Both Toyota and VW struggled during the first half of 2015 in Japan where demand has been weak since last year’s sales-tax increase. Deliveries slumped 8.2 per cent for Toyota and Lexus, and 13 per cent for Daihatsu. Sales in Japan plunged 17 per cent for VW putting the brand on track to fall behind Mercedes-Benz as the top-selling import for the first time in 16 years.