Toyota poised to keep title as bestselling carmaker as global sales hit new peaks in November

Global sales rose 12 per cent from a year earlier to 986,262 units, the most ever for the month of November
The carmaker is pushing forward with ambitious plans to mass-produce electric vehicles and catch up with Tesla and China’s BYD

Toyota

Bloomberg

Published: 4:09pm, 27 Dec 2023

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Toyota is poised to keep its title as the world’s bestselling carmaker, beating Volkswagen for the fourth consecutive year after steady demand across North America and Europe helped sales and production reach new records in November.

Global sales – including that of subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu – rose 12 per cent from a year earlier to 986,262 units, the most ever for the month of November, the company said on Wednesday. Worldwide production reached an all-time high of 1,067,446 units.

The world’s biggest carmaker has been making and selling an unprecedented number of automobiles throughout the year, further securing its dominance with hybrid cars as it pushes forward with ambitious plans to mass-produce electric vehicles and catch up with Elon Musk’s Tesla and China’s BYD.

Last week, Toyota was dragged into a growing scandal after an investigation found that Daihatsu had manipulated collision safety data dating as far back as 1989. Daihatsu will suspend operations through January and compensate its partners for the losses they incur, it said this week.

Toyota suffered a different scandal last year with its other major subsidiary, Hino, over falsified emissions data.

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It is not clear yet how much the latest scandal will cost, in terms of output, money and customer trust. Daihatsu supplies cars and parts to Mazda, Subaru and a number of other major brands.

Third-party investigators warned that numerous Toyota and Daihatsu cars will need to undergo safety inspections again to become certified properly, and that several models could be ordered off the road.

Japanese carmakers have been plagued by recalls of late.

More than 15 million cars have been recalled worldwide due to a faulty fuel pump supplied by Denso, according to data compiled by Kyodo News. This includes vehicles branded and sold by Toyota and Honda.

In July, Nissan recalled almost 1.4 million cars across the US, Europe and Japan due to several issues, including vehicles suddenly accelerating after exiting cruise control and a short circuit that can cause motors to stop while driving.

Nissan’s production rose 27 per cent year on year to 317,233 units in November, including an 83 per cent increase in China to more than 88,000. Global sales climbed 24 per cent.

Honda’s global production rose 27 per cent to 414,429, increasing most prominently in North America and China. Domestic sales rose 13 per cent to 58,263 units, it said on Wednesday.

Toyota also saw sales in China climb 17 per cent to 164,524 units, while production there rose 14 per cent.

Meanwhile, as BYD is set to overtake Tesla as the world’s bestselling EV maker, hybrids are becoming increasingly dominant in Japan. They are expected to overtake all other power trains, including combustion and diesel engines, in registered passenger vehicle sales by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, and comprise more than half sometime in 2024.

Toyota said its hybrid sales rose 52 per cent in November, while battery EV sales increased by 227 per cent.