TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp is likely to have retained its position as the world’s best-selling carmaker for the first nine months of the year, beating rivals General Motors Co (NYS:GM) and Volkswagen AG (GER:VOW3), company figures showed on Monday.
Toyota said its groupwide sales totalled around 7.41 million vehicles, up 0.1 percent from the same period a year ago, with strong sales in its biggest market of the United States offsetting slow sales in China.
Toyota’s groupwide total includes sales at affiliates Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd and Hino Motors Ltd .
General Motors sold 7.25 million vehicles during the same January to September period, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, while Volkswagen rose 4.8 percent to 7.03 million vehicles, according to figures released earlier this month.
Volkswagen’s sales figure however, excludes its Scania and MAN brands. Scania sold around 56,220 vehicles up to September. Scania and MAN brands typically account for a combined 200,000 vehicles in a full year.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Matt Driskill)
Source: Reuters
