Toyota fights off VW to remain world’s top-seller

Toyota warded off German giant Volkswagen to remain the world's top-selling car firm for a third consecutive year, driven by record US deliveries of its SUVs. Worldwide sales for Toyota, including its Hino and Daihatsu units, climbed 3 per cent to 10.23 million vehicles last year, according to a company statement. Volkswagen last week reported a 4.2 per cent gain to 10.14 million vehicles, including its two heavy-truck units.

General Motors - owner of the Opel brand - followed with 9.92 million sales, up 2.1 per cent.

Surging demand for SUVs of all sizes, including the compact RAV4 boosted Toyota's US market share gain last year, spurring plans to boost local production and exports from Japan in 2015. Volkswagen and GM are adding factories to bolster their already-dominant position in China. In contrast Toyota's president Akio Toyoda's strategy is to forgo building new car plants until at least next year could result in the first shakeup in auto-sales leadership since 2011. "Their focus is not No. 1," according to Peggy Furusaka, a Tokyo-based auto-credit analyst at Moody's Investors Service. "Toyota is more concerned about keeping profitability than chasing numbers. So for coming years, I wouldn't be surprised to see Toyota selling fewer cars than VW."

Toyota forecasts a 1 per cent decline in annual sales to 10.15 million vehicles in 2015. Volkswagen and GM haven’t announced projections for this year.

- Bloomberg