- No US car makers in what is turning out to be a three-way race. Volkswagen remains the top selling automaker in 2018, followed by the group Renault, Nissan & Mitsubishi. Toyota comes in at third.
Volkswagen (VWAGY) remains at the number one position of top selling automaker in the world, as the German manufacturer delivered a 10.83 million last year, up 0.9% from 2017. This figure includes its MAN and Scania heavy trucks. Excluding heavy trucks, VW sold 10.6 million units.
At second came the group of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi (NSANY), who together sold 10.76 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2018. The group doesn’t sell heavy trucks.
Nissan sold 5.65 million vehicles in 2018, down 2.8 percent from 2017. Mitsubishi reported an 18 percent rise in sales to 1.22 million units while Renault sold 3.88 million units, up 3.2 percent on the year.
Toyota (TM) retained its third spot, having sold 10.59 million vehicles in 2018, including its Lexus brand, along with minicars made by subsidiary Daihatsu and light and heavy trucks produced by its truck division Hino Motors Ltd.
U.S. automaker General Motors (GM), which was the No. 1 selling automaker for more than seven decades before losing the title to Toyota in 2008, has seen sales shrink due to a lacking presence in emerging and ex-US markets. The Detroit-based automaker is no longer a contender in what is turning out to be a three-way race.
Automakers are trying to boost sales volumes to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs amid soaring investments needed to develop next-generation technologies, including self-driving cars and electric vehicles.
Article by: Mick Ross
Mick is currently a full-time investor and formerly a buy-side analyst (2yrs) covering healthcare companies. Before that, he was a salesperson at a bulge-bracket firm, based in Dallas, Texas. Mick blogs to clarify and synthesize his investment thought process and to elicit feedback; additionally he likes to connect with other investors and swap ideas.