The only place where TMC appears vulnerable is China, where memories of WW2 cause issues.
Toyota Motor Corporation today announced 2014 global sales of 10.23 million vehicles or a +3% gain compared to 2013. This makes TMC the world’s largest automaker for three years running. Volkswagen Group is Number Two at 10.14 million vehicles or +4%. GM Company trails in Third place at 9.92 million vehicles, +2%, sold during calendar year 2014.
While the differences in total vehicle output are slight – one or two fiscal assembly plants at best– the bragging rights are considered valuable in what remains a business built on momentum.
Despite finishing December in sixth place in U.S. sales, the Camry during 2014 was the top-selling car in the U.S. for the 13th consecutive year.
For 2015, Toyota – unusually, projected a 1% decline in global annual sales to 10.15 million vehicles. Volkswagen and GM have yet to be heard from for this year’s forecast.
See AutoInformed on: December Sales Blowout in US! Best Since 2006
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
