The well-known Japanese carmaker has successfully maintained the top spot in sales of its products for the third year in a row. Total sales, including subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu, reached 10.5 million vehicles. This is down 0.1% from last year, with international sales reaching a record 8.6 million. Domestic sales fell 9.6% to 1.9 million vehicles.
German carmaker Volkswagen came in second with sales of 8.3 million vehicles. This is the lowest performance in more than a decade, due to shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and limited supplies of materials caused by the war in Ukraine.
Toyota's stock performance over the past 5 years. (Source: Google)
While similar raw material shortage issues are affecting Toyota, particularly with chip shortages, the automaker said that optimization and increased production capacity in Asia and North America have helped boost global production by more than 5% in 2022. Toyota revised its November forecast for the 2022/2023 financial year, which ends in March. It had originally projected production of 9.7 million vehicles but reduced that figure to 9.2 million for the period.
The company is set for a change in management, with Koji Sato taking the CEO's seat and intending to lead Toyota down the path to clean energy. Sato, CEO of Lexus and Gazoo Racing, will replace Akio Toyoda on April 1 this year. The Japanese carmaker has so far had a lukewarm attitude towards electric car production, investing more in hybrid technology and hydrogen. The new CEO wants to focus on more swift development of electric vehicle technologies, while remaining open to other powering options.
