Toyota is again the world’s largest car maker after outselling General Motors by almost 500,000 vehicles in 2012.
Toyota sold 9.75 million vehicles last year, a 23% gain in global sales that allowed it to reclaim the top spot from GM, and head off third-placed Volkswagen.
GM sold 9.29 million vehicles in 2012, while German auto giant VW sold 9.07 million.
Nissan and Honda also logged record sales as Japan’s motor industry gave yet another sign of its resurgence from the supply-chain disruptions of the previous year – caused by the earthquake in Japan and flooding in Thailand.
Nissan sold a record 4.94 million vehicles, up 5.8% from a year earlier, while Honda sold 3.82 million, a rise of 19%.
Toyota – whose sales volume includes small car maker Daihatsu and truck maker Hino – bounced back from those production problems to sell more vehicles than ever before, due to demand for its Prius family of hybrid cars, sedans such as the Camry, and SUVs such such as the Lexus RX 350.
Toyota first became No 1 in 2008, and held the position for three years.
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