Toyota is the largest car dealer in the world, overtaking Volkswagen

Last year, the Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor overtook the German concern Volkswagen (VW) in sales. For the first time in five years, it has become the largest car dealer in the world. The decline in sales due to the new coronavirus pandemic hit its German rival harder. Toyota said on Thursday that global sales of the entire group, including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motor, fell 11.3% last year to 9.528 million vehicles. At the same time, Volkswagen Group sales fell by 15.2% in 2020 to 9.305 million cars. Carmakers around the world have been hit by blockades that have prevented people from visiting showrooms and forced producers to limit or stop production. However, Toyota managed the pandemic a little better, as its domestic Japanese market and the Asian region in general were less affected than Europe and the United States. Japanese manufacturer of hybrid models Prius and luxury vehicles Lexus said that its sales in China in 2020 increased by 10.9% to almost 1.8 million cars, while in the US, which is its largest market, fell by 11.3% to 2.1 million pieces. However, sales in North America have been gradually recovering since May. And it hasn't been declining since September, but either stagnated or rose slightly, Toyota said.