It used to be a given that GM would always be top world wide, in fact is was for something like 77 years. In 2008, Toyota gate crashed the party and a new leader was crowned. I thought it will take something to wrest that back, but Toyota's push had led to issues with reliability and then natural disasters conspired to make in a short reign. GM was back in 2011. Now with sales strong in Japan and Asia for 2012 - areas Toyota are strong in - they are leaders again. 9.75 million sales got them there. GM was close at 9.29m and VW Group 9.1m.
Toyota will see sales in Japan ease or fall in Japan in 2013. A territorial dispute between China and Japan could hurt sales for the big 'T' in that important market. Can Toyota hold on for long? Are it's products good enough? Time will tell.
Which begs the question does it really matter? Of course profitability is the reason businesses exist, without a healthy bottom line it all turns to custard eventually anyway. If a car maker focuses on winning the race to the top and doesn't ensure reliability and other things are done right, it will suffer in due course. However, if you forget about ranking and make cars people want, success will follow. Despite that, they all want the kudos that goes with being the biggest car company in the world.
The bottom line: They will tell you it doesn't matter....but it really does.
Picture source: Thanks to www.netcarshow.com
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