Toyota still the world’s best-selling car-maker after record year

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has reasserted its position as the world’s biggest car-maker, announcing overnight that it sold a record 10,307,395 Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide in 2023, marking a 7.7 increase over the previous year.

The result means Toyota remains the number-one car-maker for the fourth year in a row, with its closest rival, the Volkswagen Group, not even close at 9.24 million sales for the year.

Breaking down the figures, Toyota alone sold 9,483,137 vehicles and Lexus chipped in with an impressive 824,258 units (+132%).

Outside these two brands, Daihatsu sold 790,441 vehicles while Hino slipped to 135,203.

All up, worldwide sales across TMC’s car and truck divisions totalled 11,233,039 units.

Export sales were up 4.1 per cent in 2023, while the United States remains the car-maker’s number one-export market, snapping up 2,617,033 cars there alone. That equates to a 7.0 per cent year-on-year improvement.

In Australia, Toyota led the market for the 21st year in succession, and although year-on-year sales dropped 6.8 per cent, it still delivered 215,240 new vehicles to Australian buyers.

Its closest rival was Mazda, with a tick over 100,000 units.

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have yet to report their global figures but are not expected to trouble the top two, although Hyundai (which includes Kia and Genesis) continues to make global inroads after it said it shifted 7.32 million cars in 2023 – a 6.7 per cent boost over the previous year.

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