Toyotas Starts 2021 On A High

Toyota is on a roll right now. After falling behind VW for five years, the Japanese automaker reclaimed its status as the world’s best-selling carmaker in 2020. In total, Toyota shipped 9.53 million vehicles last year across the Toyota and Lexus brands, whereas VW Group sold 9.31 million.

This was an impressive feat when you consider VW Group’s sales include the Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, and VW brands among others. As expected, Toyota’s overall sales were down due to the pandemic, but the Japanese automaker is already starting 2021 on a high.

Toyota has announced its global sales for January 2021, confirming that global sales were up by around five percent compared to January 2020. This is the fifth consecutive month where sales have been up. In January 2021, Toyota sold 765,514 cars worldwide, an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year. Toyota attributes this sales increase to strong demand in China and Japan. Thanks to strong sales of models like the Corolla, Camry, and Avalon, Toyota’s China sales increased by around 30 percent year-on-year.

In Japan, Toyota sold 127,336 units last month, an increase of around 14 percent compared to January 2020 and the fourth consecutive month sales have increased year-on-year.

Outside of Japan, Toyota’s January 2021 sales totaled 638,178 units. Toyota hasn’t released sales figures for the North American market, but noted that demand for the RAV4, Sequoia, and Sienna were strong. For the last four years, the RAV4 has been Toyota’s best-selling model in the US, and this looks set to continue in 2021. As a result, production in North America was up around two percent year-on-year.

Production in China, on the other hand, increased by around 41 percent compared to January last year. If Toyota can keep up this sales momentum, 2021 will be a strong year for the Japanese automaker and it will be interesting to see if it can overtake VW’s end-of-year sales for the second year in a row.