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With Toyota Motor (TM.).US) in North America and Europe helped the company hit new sales and production records in November, and the automaker is on track to beat Volkswagen (Vwagy.) for the fourth year in a rowUS), maintaining its title as the world's best-selling car manufacturer.
The company said Wednesday that global sales, which include subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motors, rose 12% year-on-year to 986,262 units in November, the highest in the same period in history. Global production reached a record high of 1,067,446 units.
The world's largest automaker's record full-year production and sales have further secured its dominance in hybrid vehicles, while pushing ahead with ambitious plans to mass-produce electric vehicles to catch up with the segment's giant Tesla (TSLA.).US) and BYD (01211).
But Toyota was embroiled in an escalating scandal after an investigation last week found that Daihatsu had tampered with crash safety data dating back as far back as 1989. Daihatsu said this week that it would suspend operations until January next year and compensate partners for the losses suffered.
Last year, Hino Motors, another major subsidiary of Toyota, also faced another scandal for falsifying emissions data.
It's unclear how costly the latest scandal will be in terms of production, money and customer trust. It is understood that Daihatsu Automobile mainly supplies Mazda Automobile (MZDAYUS), Subaru (Fujhyus) and some other brands** of cars and parts.
Third-party investigators have warned that many Toyota and Daihatsu-branded cars will need to undergo safety checks again to obtain proper certification, and several models may be banned from the road.
In fact, several Japanese automakers have also been plagued by recalls recently.
Compiled data shows that more than 15 million vehicles have been recalled worldwide due to a malfunction of the fuel pump of Denso Japan's**. This includes Toyota and Honda Motor (HMCus) brand and sale of automobiles.
In July of this year, Nissan Motor (nsanyUS) recalled nearly 1.4 million vehicles in the U.S., Europe, and Japan due to abrupt acceleration after exiting cruise control and a short circuit that could cause the motor to stop while driving.
Nissan vehicle production in November increased 27% y/y to 317,233 units, with production in China up 83% to more than 880,000 units. Global sales increased by 24%.
Honda's global production increased by 27% to 414,429 units, with the most significant increases in North America and China. The company said on Wednesday that domestic sales rose 13% to 58,263 units.
Toyota's sales in China also rose 17 percent to 164,524 units, while production in China increased 14 percent.
At the same time, hybrid vehicles are becoming increasingly dominant in Japan as BYD is on the verge of replacing Tesla as the world's best-selling electric car maker. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, hybrids are expected to outperform all other powertrains in registered passenger car sales by the end of the year, including internal combustion engines and diesel engines, and account for more than half of them sometime in 2024.
Toyota said its hybrid vehicle sales rose 52% and battery electric vehicle sales rose 227% in November.