Axon's Automotive Anorak: VW trumps Toyota for global sales supremacy

More interesting data has now been revealed about the top new car choices around the world as a whole for 2016, with the odd surprise to boot!

Time was, not that long ago for example, that the North American car makers ruled the global sales charts, with General Motors or the Ford Group frequently topping the worldwide sales charts. Much to Detroit’s dismay, this situation has changed considerably now, with both of these once mighty giants slipping down the sales charts.

Despite its post-dieseilgate tarnished brand image and tough corporate challenges throughout 2016, last year saw the Volkswagen Group seize the number one global sales slot from Toyota for the very first time, with VW shifting 10.3 million vehicles worldwide last year, nudging the Toyota Group into a close second place with 10.1 million units sold.

VW can thank China for placing it in pole position in 2016, with a sales growth of 12 percent there, and the Asia-Pacific region now accounting for a substantial 42 percent of the German Group’s total worldwide sales volume. VW also achieved a 4 percent sales growth in Europe last year, but registrations in the important USA market fell by 2.4 percent, due to the most adverse reaction globally to the VW Group’s emission scandal.

Sales of second-placed Toyota also fell marginally in the USA in 2016 (down 2 percent) but increased by a healthy 15 percent in China. In other key areas though, Toyota took the victor’s crown in 2016, turning a profit of £1,362 per vehicle sold, versus a much lower average £680 per unit profit for the VW Group.

Toyota was also the most researched car brand globally on Google in 2016, ahead of all others in 74 countries around the world, including BMW (second) and Honda (third), as well as VW’s various brands (sixth combined). Honda was the most Googled vehicle maker in Canada, Brazil, and much of the Asian Pacific, with Hyundai taking the top slot in South Korea and Russia, plus a few other East European countries, and Chevrolet in Brazil and some smaller Latin American nations.

For most of Europe (including the UK) BMW was the most searched 2016 Google car brand search, with the exceptions of France (Renault, plus Turkey, Morocco and Algeria in Africa), Italy (Fiat), Denmark (Peugeot), Sweden (Volvo), plus Spain and a few East European markets for Volkswagen. Mercedes-Benz dominated Google in Finland and southern African markets, with Jaguar the most researched in Belize, MINI in Yemen and Bugatti in Niger!