Volkswagen: Close to overtake Toyota as no. 1 carmaker

Monday, April 20, 2009

Volkswagen: Close to overtake Toyota as no. 1 carmaker

VW is close to overtake Toyota as no. 1 carmaker. Great news!

Early reports of first-quarter figures suggest that the VW Group’s nine car and truck brands could out-sell the combined might of Toyota Motor Corp, which includes Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and truck maker Hino.

While Toyota has suffered heavily from the weak performance of its core markets – in the first quarter of 2009 the Japanese market was down 24 per cent year-on-year, while the US was down 38 per cent – VW’s key markets were buoyant by comparison.

China, Germany and Brazil make up around 44 per cent of the VW Group’s total sales, and each country has successfully introduced government-sponsored schemes to boost new car sales.