Craig Trudell Tokyo
TOYOTA Motor’s global sales climbed 2.8 percent in the first nine months of this year as the car maker battles Volkswagen (VW) for leadership.
Worldwide deliveries for Toyota, including its Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor units, climbed to 7.6 million vehicles to September, spokesman Dion Corbett said.
VW reported a 5.3 percent gain in sales to 7.4 million, excluding results for its two heavy truck units.
The tight race between global giants is playing out as vehicle makers, their customers and regulators contend with mounting recalls and rising scrutiny over safety.
The industrywide struggle with defective cars poses risks to both Toyota and VW, which are benefiting from increasing demand in the Chinese and US markets.
“It’s a fantastic race, with their strengths coming in different parts of the world,” James Chao, a Shanghai-based director at IHS Automotive, said. “You see the US coming back quite strongly for Toyota, and then you see the great engine of growth for VW being China, which is continuing to perform.”
President Akio Toyoda told shareholders the company was “advancing into uncharted territory” in the annual report the Japanese-based car maker released last month.
Toyoda noted the unprecedented milestone of selling more than 10 million vehicles worldwide last year, a mark both his company and VW are on track to exceed again this year.
The industry is selling record numbers of vehicles globally as crises involving vehicles safety swirl. Air bags made by Takata are linked to at least four deaths and more than 30 injuries in the US after the safety devices deployed with too much force, spraying metal shrapnel at occupants.
US authorities have begun an investigation and almost 8 million cars made by 10 vehicle makers have been recalled to fix the hazard.
In the US, General Motors (GM), the third-biggest vehicle maker by worldwide deliveries, faces death claims involving defective ignition switches. GM has confirmed 29 fatalities tied to the flaw, which it failed to fix after more than a decade.
Even with those concerns, GM sales rose 2 percent to 7.37 million vehicles during the year’s first nine months. The biggest US vehicle maker last week reported third-quarter profit that beat estimates as North American customers flocked to pick-ups and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and as recall expenses ebbed.
Toyota deliveries in the US market increased 5.7 percent to September, paced by a 26 percent surge in sales of its RAV4.
VW is benefiting from rising demand for its Audi luxury vehicles, driven by the Q5 SUV and long-wheelbase version of the A6 sedan.
The Q5 is ranked eight among the top 10 best-selling SUVs in the market in the first nine months of this year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Parent VW claimed four of the nation’s 10 top-selling sedans during the same period, which included the Jetta and Santana models.