Toyota keeps top global automaker crown, sells over 10 million in 2015

Toyota's total sales outpace scandal-hit Volkswagen and US rival General Motors

TOKYO: Toyota kept its title as the world's biggest automaker on Wednesday as it announced global sales of 10.15 million vehicles last year, outpacing scandal-hit Volkswagen and US rival General Motors.

Struggling to move past a pollution-cheating scandal, Volkswagen earlier said it logged sales of 9.93 million vehicles worldwide in 2015, while Chevrolet and Cadillac maker GM moved 9.8 million.



In the first half of the year, Volkswagen was in pole position, outpacing Toyota as the German automaker rode momentum in emerging economies.

But then it posted its first drop in annual sales in more than a decade, as it was hammered by a massive pollution cheating scandal.

Volkswagen sank into its biggest crisis over stunning revelations in September that it had fitted 11 million of its vehicles with devices designed to dodge pollution tests.



Toyota broke GM's decades-long reign as the world's top automaker in 2008 but lost it three years later as Japan's earthquake-tsunami disaster dented production and disrupted the supply chains of the country's automakers.

However, in 2012 it once again overtook its Detroit rival and has remained on top since.