Toyota Takes The Lead; Becomes #1 Best-Selling Manufacturer
The year 2015 was marked by a heated fight between Toyota and Volkswagen to see which manufacturer would sell more vehicles; while the Germans were actually winning that fight for a while, it seems the Japanese automaker still has something to say about the matter.
The arrival of the annual sales numbers (as of September) shows us that Volkswagen's Dieselgate has slowed down their assault. While Volkswagen managed to sell 7.43 million units, it has to concede victory to Toyota, which posted reports of 7.49 million cars sold.
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VW's slowdown can be explained by the fact that it stopped sales of its diesel engine-equipped models in a few markets around the world until its emission-related problems are solved. The manufacturer is also losing traction in the Chinese market (its largest source of revenue); this year's sales were down 7.4%.
On Toyota's side, things are going great. Analysts predicts that the arrival of the all-new Prius and the updated Land Cruiser will help the automaker keep its lead for the next few months and stay the world's #1 manufacturer for yet another year.
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- 2014's #1 manufacturer was Toyota, of course