Toyota is the world’s top selling automaker in 2020, a title the company has reclaimed from Volkswagen after five years. The Japanese car giant sold 9.528 million vehicles in 2020, while VW retailed 9.305 million in the year.

It should be noted that both carmakers sales were down compared to previous year – Toyota recorded an 11.3 percent drop while Volkswagen’s numbers fell 15.2 percent. This has been attributed to the slump in demand due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Toyota, it seems, has managed to face the situation better, partly due to the fact that markets such as Japan and Asia have been comparatively less affected than VW’s main markets – Europe and the US.

Demand for electric cars has risen, despite an overall drop in demand, with Toyota saying the ratio of electric vehicles it sold last year grew to 23 percent of total sales from 20 percent in the previous year.