The Volkswagen Group, which comprises Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Lamborghini and Skoda, has retained its leadership spot amongst global automakers in 2018, seeing a cumulative sales figure of 10.83 million units sold. The group saw a growth of 0.8 percent, as compared to the 10.76 million units it sold in 2017. Not too far behind is the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance that has sold 10.76 million vehicles. They saw an increase of 1.4 percent as compared to the 10.61 million units sold in 2017, despite being rocked by controversy in November 2018 with the arrest of CEO Carlos Ghosn who is facing charges of financial impropriety.
In third position, behind the Volkswagen Group and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, is the Toyota Group with a total sales figure of 10.59 million units in 2018. The Toyota Group, which includes the likes of Lexus and Daihatsu, saw an increase of 2 percent over the 10.38 million units sold globally in 2017. American automotive giant General Motors, who incidentally ended India operations in 2017, will stand fourth in the global standing of automakers, with an expected sales output of over 8 million vehicles in 2018.
Rounding up the top-five list is the Hyundai Group, which includes Kia, coming in at 7.4 million units globally. That said, with rumours of a possible takeover of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) by the South Korean automaker, the Hyundai Group might leapfrog the likes of Volkswagen to be the world’s largest automaker in the near future. Other carmakers in the top 10 list include the BMW Group, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Honda.
CYRUS DHABHAR