If Toyota Doesn't Get It's Act Together In China VW Will Probably Overtake Them Globally In 2015

Toyota Motor Corp., which fended off Volkswagen AG to remain the world’s top automaker in 2014, may lose the sales crown as early as this year as it falls behind in China, the world’s biggest auto market.

Toyota is predicting its global deliveries will decline 1 percent in 2015 to 10.15 million vehicles, or just 10,000 units more than what Volkswagen sold worldwide last year. A new factory the German company is opening this year in Changsha, China, will add capacity for another 300,000 vehicles annually.

As Volkswagen and General Motors Co. add factories to bolster their already-dominant position in China, Toyota President Akio Toyoda’s strategy of foregoing new car plants until at least next year could result in the first shakeup in auto-sales leadership since 2011. Toyota ranks sixth among global automakers in China and sells less than one-third as many vehicles as its two main competitors in China.

ParadoX - 1/26/2015 4:42:56 PM

+1 Boost

The Chinese government is not going to allow that to happen as long as it has an adversarial relationship with Japan. They need a nationalistic rivalry for the sake of keeping domestic politics focused elsewhere than on the rot within the Chinese system.

MDarringer - 1/26/2015 7:05:27 PM

-1 Boost

Volume should not be the goal, but rather profit. VW's per vehicle profit--by their own admission--is terrible vi a vis Toyota. Toyota does not need volume bragging rights when it has nailed profit.

MDarringer - 1/26/2015 8:43:44 PM

0 Boost

Soon VW will be the largest provider of cars with durability/reliability issues.