Toyota - Still the world's biggest car manufacturer

For the fourth consecutive year, Toyota has retained its crown as the world's best selling car manufacturer with cumulative sales of 10.15 million vehicles, in 2015. Despite a 0.8% sales drop compared to 2014, the Japanese car manufacturer stays ahead of Volkswagen and GM, which managed 9.93 million and 9.8 million vehicle sales (respectively) in the same period.

The Toyota Group (including subsidiaries - Daihatsu and Hino Motors) witnessed strong demand in the US, but sales slowed down in South-East Asia and other emerging markets. Its domestic sales fell by 6.5%, while its sales outside the Japanese market rose by 0.9%.

Earlier this year, there were whispers about Suzuki and Toyota planning to collaborate over fuel saving and safety technology, as well as operations in India. However, both companies denied the news. Toyota has also introduced its first mass market hydrogen fuel cell vehicle - Mirai, to tap into the global green car market.

In the first half of 2015, VW inched ahead of Toyota with sales of 5.04 million units vs Toyota's 5.02 million vehicles. However, VW's emission scandal played its part in damaging the company's reputation and its comparatively weak performance (to the overall market) in China - VW's biggest market, led to a global sales drop of 2% in 2015, from 10.137 million vehicles in 2014.

Source: Market Watch