Although sales volume dipped 1.2 percent from a year earlier in the January-June period, Toyota clung to the top spot thanks to robust performance in North America.
Toyota was followed by General Motors Co. of the United States with 4.85 million units, up 3.9 percent. Germany's Volkswagen AG came third with 4.7 million units, up 5.6 percent.
While Toyota's sales overseas gained 2.4 percent to a record 3.74 million units, its domestic sales were down 11.3 percent at 1.17 million units affected by the termination last September of the government subsidy program for the purchase of environmentally friendly vehicles.
It is uncertain whether Toyota will be able to retain the top spot for the full year given slowing domestic sales and the performance of its international rivals in overseas markets.
In the North American market, Toyota's sales grew 5.4 percent to 1.21 million units as models such as the luxury sedan Avalon sold well, but the figure fell short of GM, which sold 1.64 million units, up 7.7 percent.
In China, the world's biggest auto market, Toyota's sales dropped 5.8 percent to 417,000 units on the adverse affect of the Japan-China territorial row over the islands in the East China Sea and ensuing boycott of Japanese products since last year -- in contrast with GM and Volkswagen, which performed better than a year earlier.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
