The automobile industry entered the era of the "new three countries"

The actual sales of the major global automakers from January to June 2014 have all been announced. According to "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported on August 1, Toyota Motor Group's sales exceeded 5 million for the first time in the first half of the year, ranking third consecutively for the first time. For the first time, Volkswagen has surpassed the United States General Motors (GM) to reach No. 2. It is expected that the competition between the "new top three" of the global automotive industry, which is expected to have a sales volume of around 10 million vehicles throughout the year, will become increasingly fierce.

According to figures released by Toyota, worldwide sales, including Daihatsu Industries and Hino Motors within the group, increased by 3.8% year-on-year to 5.097 million vehicles. The 2nd ranked Volkswagen was up 5.9% year-on-year to 4.97 million vehicles (excluding some commercial vehicles), and General Motors was up 1.4% year-on-year to 4.92 million vehicles.

The 4th Renault-Nissan Alliance sold 4.27 million vehicles, which formed a certain gap with the top three. General Motors, Ford, and Toyota have been hailed as the top three in the automotive industry, but now they form the "new top three" pattern of Toyota, Volkswagen, and GM.

One notable feature of the first half of the year was that the sales gap in the top three was significantly smaller than before. Volkswagen, which is trying to catch up with Toyota, plans to invest 18.2 billion euros from 2014 to 2018 to a Chinese joint venture in the largest auto market. It is hoped that the local production capacity in China will be increased to 4 million units to achieve sales growth.

On the one hand, Toyota learned lessons from the excessive focus on scale-up prior to the Lehman crisis and once fell into a loss. It changed its business policy to “focus on quality growth” (Chief President Akio Toyo) and plans to start from 2013 onwards. No new factory will be added within 3 years. Affected by this, after 2015 Toyota is likely to give the world's number one throne to the public.

The new top three will focus their future strategies on emerging economies, but they will also face their own issues. Volkswagen regards China as the most important market. In the first half of this year, it sold 181 million vehicles in China, which is equivalent to nearly 40% of the sales volume of the entire group. But on the other hand, 90% of sales in the entire Asia-Pacific region as a growth market are dependent on China, which has become one of the public's soft underbelly.

Toyota has an advantage in Southeast Asia. Thailand and Indonesia, which have the highest market share, sold 370,000 vehicles. Together with China, the total sales in Asia increased to 1.12 million. However, its sales volume in China in the first half of the year was only 470,000, which was behind Volkswagen and General Motors.

General Motors is also regarded China as the largest sales market. From January to June, sales in China increased 10.5% year-on-year to 1.73 million vehicles. However, in Brazil, which is the third largest sales country, sales volume has decreased by 8.6% year-on-year, and sales in emerging economies other than China and South America have also decreased by 3.7% year-on-year. Accelerating sales growth in these regions has become a top priority. .

In January, Toyota announced plans to sell 10.32 million vehicles throughout the year. Volkswagen said in March that it aimed at more than 10 million vehicles. The competition of “ten million clubs” is becoming increasingly fierce, but the market strategy and effective product input of emerging economies will be the key to victory.