"Japanese Godzilla" Toyota reclaims World’s Biggest Carmaker crown for 2012
Nation-crippling Tsunami, submerged factories from Thailand floods and major court battles decelerated Toyota’s performance in 2011 letting GM take away the title of the World’s biggest manufacturer last year.
A three year reign of Toyota finally came to a grinding halt. This was music to the ears of Volkswagen who are chipping away at the lead in their quest to become the biggest automaker by 2018.
But Toyota is back and it is back with the bang!
CNN reports that the "Japanese Godzilla" will close the year with 9.7 million vehicles. This is an impressive 22 percent increase over the past year. On the other hand, GM will manage 9.3 million vehicles which should secure them the title of the second biggest manufacturer in the world.
Our German friends Volkswagen will neatly place themselves 3rd with an estimate of 9 million vehicles.
Toyota is not stopping there. The Japanese maker is going into 2013 with the intention to dominate through new models and refreshes. The target set for 2013 is 9.9 million units which is 20,000 more than the current target achieved. Given the market scenario in Europe and the slowdown of China, we think that it is a reasonably achievable target.
The biggest challenge will come from the Volkswagen Group that is catching up at a phenomenal pace. Toyota and GM need to watch their back as Volkswagen has started implementing its blitzkrieg strategy to be the numero uno manufacturer in the world by 2018 by selling more than 10 million vehicles worldwide.
[Source: money.cnn.com]