Despite problems

This car manufacturer is the biggest in the world!

(Bild: AFP)

For five years now, the Volkswagen Group has been trying to regain the throne as the world's largest car manufacturer - but last year, the Wolfsburg-based company once again cut its teeth on Toyota. Although not everything went smoothly for the Japanese either.

The industry giant from the Land of the Rising Sun sold 10.8 million cars worldwide in 2024, as the company announced in Tokyo on Thursday. Although this was 3.7 percent less than in the previous year, it was still significantly more than the approximately nine million Volkswagen vehicles.

The decline at the Wolfsburg-based VW Group, which also includes brands such as Audi, Skoda and Seat, was lower at 2.3 percent, but not a gain. Toyota, including brands such as Lexus and Daihatsu, thus remained ahead of its German rival for the fifth time in a row.

Problems with the Prius
Toyota can look back on a mixed year. The Group's sales in Japan slumped by 20 percent after the company had to recall some of its Prius hybrid model. Authorities had discovered irregularities during tests. At the same time, sales in China fell by seven percent as Chinese manufacturers fought a price war in their home market.

Car manufacturers from China are steadily expanding their share of the global market, particularly in the electric car sector. The BYD Group sold around 4.3 million cars in 2024, an increase of 41% compared to the previous year. Around half of these were purely electric vehicles. In contrast, Toyota only sold 140,000 electric cars last year and continued to focus on hybrid vehicles.