Toyota Corolla The Corolla was likely Toyota's best-seller in 2024, according to unconfirmed reports. Picture: Supplied
Image: Supplied
The global sales numbers are in, and Toyota is once again the world’s most popular vehicle brand.
The Japanese carmaker announced this week that it sold 10.8 million vehicles around the world in 2024, and although this was 1.4% down on its 2023 number, it was still enough to ensure a significant lead over nearest rival the Volkswagen Group, which sold 9.03 million vehicles last year, a decrease of 2.3%.
Toyota’s sales number includes its Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands, while VW’s total also comprises the group’s many nameplates, including Audi, Seat and Skoda. Third place is believed to belong to the Hyundai Group, which managed 7.32 million units if you include the Kia numbers.
Of course, Toyota and Volkswagen are also South Africa’s two favourite vehicle companies, the former leading the market with 125,320 unit sales and the latter managing 66,486, ahead of Suzuki, with 59,574.
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Toyota hasn’t verified which individual models were its top sellers globally, but stats website Focus2Move lists the Toyota Corolla as its top seller, with 1.08 million registrations, and the Toyota Rav4 in second with 1.02 million sales.
Toyota is still lagging when it comes to fully electric vehicles, with BEV sales amounting to just 139,892 units according to data released by the company, albeit this was a 34.5% gain over 2023.
Toyota’s real specialty is hybrids and this powertrain type accounted for 4.1 million Toyota sales in 2024, up 21.1% over the previous year. Sales of mild hybrid vehicles increased by 253% to 94,810 while plug-in hybrid sales rose by 23.4% to 153,829.
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Toyota’s biggest market in 2024 was the US, which snapped up 2.33 million units. It was followed by China (1.78 million), Japan (1.44 million), India (300,212) and Indonesia (296,546).
South Africa, at 125,320, accounted for more than half of the African continent’s sales, which totalled 233,874. Interestingly, Mzansi sold similar volumes to the UK (132,913), Italy (131,830) and Germany (105,155), although it does not lead any of these markets.
Toyota South Africa is anticipating a marginally stronger vehicle market in 2024.
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