Despite a drop in diesel engine sales in the wake of the company's diesel emissions scandal, Volkswagen could still realize its biggest corporate dream of becoming the world's top selling automobile company this year, Forbes magazine said today.
Toyota, which has held the crown for the last four years, published its global sales and production data for April today showing that sales through the first four months of the year were about 90,000 units behind VW, which was the top seller. According to company figures provided by the car makers from January through April, Volkswagen sold 3,361,600 units, Toyota sold 3,271,970 units and General Motors sold 3,146,667 units.
VW overall sales, which include Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborgini, aong others, were up 0.6 percent in the first four months of 2016, while Toyota and GM sales were both down from the previous year. Compared to the same period of last year, Toyota deliveries are down 2.8 percent, while GM was down 1.6 percent.
"Volkswagen's unexpected rise from the ashes is mostly due to strong growth in its home market Europe, and its No. 2 market, China," Forbes contributor Bertel Schmitt said today. "In the grand scheme of Volkswagen's things, its U.S. weakness is meaningless. Volkswagen's U.S. sales account for only 5 percent of its total."
U.S. regulators have so far refused to approve VW's diesel engines on many of its popular brands, including the Chattanooga-make Passat, after the auto maker admitted last September that it had cheated on how it previously passed emission tests on its diesel brands.