Toyota outsold GM globally by a narrow margin during the first half of 2013 led by Camry sales.
Toyota maintained a narrow lead in the global automotive sales race for the first half of 2013, just ahead of its American archrival General Motors.
The Japanese giant said it sold 4.91 million cars, trucks and crossovers between January and June, a 1.2% decline from year-earlier levels despite the expectation of big gains forecast by Toyota chief Akio Toyoda going into 2013. The maker’s biggest challenge has been in China where it not only lags leaders like GM and Volkswagen, but also where an ongoing political dispute has hurt sales of all Japanese brands.
Toyota nabbed the best-selling title from General Motors in 2008, the humbled U.S. maker slipping after seven decades at the top just before plunging into bankruptcy and being rescued by a $50 billion federal bailout. GM briefly regained the lead in 2011 after Toyota suffered serious production problems due to the devastating earthquake that struck Northern Japan and, subsequently, the flooding of key electronics suppliers in Thailand.
It regained the lead last year and remained ahead for the first half of 2013 as GM turned out 4.85 million vehicles worldwide – though the U.S. maker’s numbers reflect a 4% surge in sales. And GM outsold China during the second quarter by about 10,000 vehicles.
While Toyota has clearly pushed to maintain its lead in recent years, it has routinely downplayed the significance of being the best-seller, CEO Toyoda telling reporters in Japan this week, “What truly defines being number one is an eternal pursuit for which there is never an answer.”
Toyota clearly faces a number of challenges as it looks ahead to the rest of 2013. It continues to face problems in China, which remains locked in an ongoing dispute with Japan over ownership of a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
In the U.S., meanwhile, Toyota has been struggling to keep pace with the overall recovery of the American automotive market. Its Prius hybrid “family” suffered an unexpected 5% decline in sales during the first half, while the Camry sedan – long the best-selling passenger car in America – also lost ground to competitors like the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion.
The maker has been ramping up incentives on both Camry and Prius to rebuild their momentum. It is meanwhile counting on a series of key, upcoming launches, including an all-new version of the compact Corolla and a major update of the Tundra pickup.
The latter model has seen sales decline by nearly half since 2007 but could rebound in the months ahead, said Toyota division chief Bill Fay in an interview with TheDetroitBureau.com. “We’re trying to keep up with the overall growth of the segment,” which is leading the recovery of the U.S. market this year.
General Motors, however, continues to make inroads. And it is also counting on key model launches to build volume during the second half. That includes all-new versions of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. Meanwhile, GM has been winning a variety of third-party kudos traditionally reserved for its Japanese rival.
(With sales slipping, Toyota cuts price of Camry sedan. Click Here for more.)
This week, Consumer Reports named the Chevy Impala tops in the full-size sedan segment, ahead of the redesigned Toyota Avalon. GM last month topped the much-watched J.D. Power and Associated Initial Quality Survey, a study traditionally led by Toyota and other Japanese makers. Equally concerning for Toyota, it lagged near the bottom of Power’s new APEAL study – which measures the way products “surprise and delight” buyers – while GM was second, just behind Volkswagen.
(Click Here to read about GM’s earnings results for Q2.)
The German maker could be the wild card in the global sales race. It landed in third place last year and lagged for the first half of 2013, as well, with sales of 4.7 million vehicles – including its broad range of brands such as Audi, VW, Skoda and the newest addition, Porsche.
But VW officials have repeatedly expressed plans to take the sales lead before the end of the decade. Whether Toyota and GM will step aside – or make some critical mistakes – remains to be seen.