Toyota Motor Corp. remains the world’s best-selling automaker, having edged out competitors including Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor Group and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. But the Japanese giant still recorded a 3.7% decline in sales during 2024. How did other competitors do? More from Headlight.News.
A U.S. Toyota dealership.
For the fifth year in a row Toyota Motor Corp. remained king-of-the-hill in the automotive sales sweepstakes, the automaker racking up a total of nearly 11 million vehicles despite a nearly 4% drop in global demand, some of that loss reflecting a certification scandal in its home market of Japan.
Volkswagen came in second for the year, with slightly more than 9 million vehicles sold. Hyundai Motor Group slotted in as third in the sales race, with a combined 8.3 million vehicles sold by its Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands.
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which briefly nabbed the top spot over the past decade – and which had routinely ranked among the top three sales leaders – slipped to fourth on the sales charts reflecting a variety of issues, notably the ongoing decline by Nissan which has lost momentum and is now in the process of completing a merger with smaller rival Honda.
Toyota ends year with another sales crown
Some of the Daihatsu products impacted by the certification scandal were also badged Toyota, like this Copen mini-convertible.
Half empty or half full? There’s no question the year ended on a positive note for Toyota, the industry giant taking the global sales crown for the fifth straight year.
That said, its total of 10.8 million vehicles – including the Toyota, Lexus, Daihatus and Hino Motors brands — was down 3.7% compared to 2023. The numbers took a tumble in both China, where increasingly confident domestic brands have been squeezing hard foreign-owned competitors.
Toyota also struggled to reverse a sharp decline in the home market. It was the result of a public backlash triggered by revelations that the automaker falsified the results of some certification tests, particularly those involving the Daihatsu minicar brand.
Volkswagen struggles
The U.S. launch of the ID.Buzz electric microbus was one of the German marque’s highpoints in 2024.
The Volkswagen brand appeared to be locking down its leadership position as the decade began, leveraging its broad line-up of brands, from bottom-end Skoda and Seat to ultra-premium Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti.
But things haven’t gone nearly as well over the past few years – to the point that the automaker’s chief financial officer last spring warned VW had “one, possibly two years” to get its act in order or face a serious financial crisis. The situation has, if anything, grown worse in some key markets, notably China where it had long been the market leader. It continues to struggled there as rivals engage in a price war, even while launching a flood of new products.
VW’s various brands rolled up global sales of just over 9.3 million vehicles last year, a 2.3% decline.
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Hyundai, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and GM play catch-up
The Hyundai Venue.
One of the more notable developments this decade has been the rapid growth by the Hyundai Motor Group which landed in third place globally, selling about 8.3 million vehicles through the Hyundai, Genesis and Kia brands. All three of those marques gained ground in 2024, among other things, setting sales records in the United States.
But while the Koreans gained momentum, things grew worse for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which had, at one point, surged to the top of the sales charts. The group has been racked by internal turmoil, in part triggered by the November 2018 ouster and arrest of former CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Renault and Nissan a year ago renegotiated a change in their cross-holdings, a move the Japanese automaker had long sought in a bit for greater autonomy. But they have continued drifting apart, generating fewer benefits from their alliance. An ongoing sales slump by Nissan has left that automaker struggling financially – and triggering last autumn’s announcement that it was working up a merger with Honda. The deal, set to be completed in 2026, now is expected to bring a complete break between Nissan and both Renault and Mitsubishi.
As for General Motors, the once globally dominant player has become an increasingly insignificant factor, at least in terms of global sales, having pulled out of key markets including Europe, Australia and India. GM is also dealing with a decline in China which forced it to take a roughly $4 billion write off during the fourth quarter of 2024.
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