Toyota maintains its leadership as the world’s leading car manufacturer for another year, ahead of Volkswagen and Ford. The Japanese company continues to dominate the market with more than 9.48 million units delivered in 2023, ahead of Volkswagen (5.27 million) and Ford (4.24 million), according to the conclusions of Car Industry Analysis, which includes the data from large consulting firms such as Jato Dynamics.
In 2023, for the fourth consecutive year, Toyota became the world leader in automobiles by totaling 9,483,137 deliveries, more than 40% than its closest pursuer, Volkswagen. The German company placed 5,276,200 units on the market, just over a million more than Ford, which was third, with 4,246,000 units delivered.
The ranking of the best-selling brands of 2023 reveals user preference for models from Asian manufacturers. Seven of the first nine companies with the highest sales volume are from this continent. Only the Chinese BYD manages to break the hegemony that Japanese and South Korean manufacturers maintain in the global automotive market.
Behind the podium made up of Toyota, Volkswagen and the American Ford, Hyundai (3,993,179) and Honda (3,854,000) are in the top-5 of the brands preferred by consumers. The top 10 positions are completed by Nissan (3,290,271 units), Kia (3,087,384), Suzuki (3,072,824), BYD (2,885,066) and Chevrolet (2,790,000). The latter, American, breaks the trend of Asian predominance.
BYD’s presence among the world’s 10 best-selling brands confirms China’s rise as one of the leading vehicle manufacturers. In addition to the brand founded by Wuang Chuanfu, specialized in the manufacture of plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars, other Chinese brands, such as Changan, Wuling, Geely and Chery, appear in the top 20 positions of the ranking.
On the contrary, we must highlight the departure of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi from the group of the 10 best-selling brands in the world. None of the three German manufacturers manages to reach 2.5 million units sold, although the star company is the best placed – eleventh – with 2,491,600 deliveries, according to data collected by Car Industry Analysis. BMW sold 2,252,793 cars in 2023 and Audi fell far short of two million by selling 1,895,240 examples.
Tesla is in 15th place, with 1,808,581 cars sold, although from a privileged position, since the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling model in 2023. With 1,230,000 units delivered, the car of the company from which Elon Musk, its founder and CEO, not only managed to dethrone the Toyota Corolla but also became the first 100% electric car to achieve this recognition.
The Tesla Model Y took first place in the ranking, surpassing the number of sales of two Toyota models: the RAV4 (1.07 million) and the Corolla (1.01 million). The American brand’s car has also gone down in history by becoming the sales leader in Europe for the first time.
