Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday retained top spot in first-half global sales in 2026 for the seventh straight year, with its group companies selling 5.39 million vehicles worldwide to outperform German rival Volkswagen AG.
Global sales in the January-June period, however, fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year decline in two years, reflecting sluggish demand in China hit by higher gasoline prices amid tensions in the Middle East.
Volkswagen sold roughly 4.13 million units in the same period.
With logistics disruptions stemming from the Middle East situation also weighing on operations, the Toyota group's global output edged down 0.3 percent to 5.51 million vehicles in the first half. Toyota alone saw its exports from Japan to the Middle East drop 36.0 percent to 104,093 cars.
The group's overseas sales dropped 4.5 percent to 4.30 million vehicles, while domestic sales totaled 1.10 million units, up 4.4 percent, driven by strong sales of the new bZ4X electric vehicle.
Toyota's global sales of electrified vehicles, led by hybrid vehicles, grew 9.1 percent to 2.71 million cars, while EV sales jumped about 2.4-fold to 193,172 vehicles, both marking record highs for the first half.
By country and region, sales in China slid 17.1 percent to 694,670 units, while the Middle East saw a 21.6 percent drop in sales to 218,855 cars. Sales in North America edged up 0.9 percent to 1.45 million vehicles, helped by solid demand for hybrid vehicles.
In June alone, Toyota group's global sales slipped 1.1 percent to 926,688 units, while global production climbed 2.2 percent to 984,408 cars.
Although the group had included Hino Motors Ltd. as its subsidiary as with Daihatsu Motor Co. until March, Hino is no longer Toyota's consolidated subsidiary following its merger with Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. in April.
