Skip to main content

VW overtakes Toyota as world’s top-selling carmaker

Volkswagen edged ahead of Toyota in the calendar year 2016 to become the world’s bestselling automaker, despite being rocked by the massive emission scandal that hurt its reputation. Volkswagen Group products used the so-called ‘defeat devices’ to violate emission norms, the discovery of which sparked the emissions scandal in September 2015.


The Volkswagen Group sold 10.3 million (1,03,12,400) vehicles worldwide in 2016, a year-on-year rise of 3.8 percent, and Toyota registered sales of 1,01,75,000 vehicles (0.2 percent growth).
VW’s growth was propelled by surging demand in China (3,548,600 units, up 12 percent on year) which has been largely unaffected by the diesel-cheating scandal since the country doesn’t allow sales of diesel vehicles. Effects of the emission scandal, however, were evident in Europe – its second largest market – where 2016 sales slowed down to four percent growth (4,206,500 units). 

For Toyota, sales came under pressure in US and China. Demand for the Camry declined in the US and volumes in China grew at a slower rate than the overall market, reports suggested

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Urus India review, test drive

             On first introduction, it’s a recipe for intimidation. It’s claimed to be the fastest SUV in the world (0-100kph in 3.6sec and a top speed of 305kph puts it nearly in supercar territory), and it’s made by Lamborghini – creator of some of the most savage vehicles on the market. Things – as with any Lamborghini, for that matter – would be a lot less daunting if we were driving on a smooth European country road, a wide motorway, or even a race track. But today we’re driving the Urus on a narrow  ghat  road, as well as through some heavy Pune traffic. Perhaps the intention was to demonstrate that this is the first Lamborghini ever to go on sale in India that truly works in our conditions – but still, I doubt they accounted for rush hour. It’s requisitely mad to look at, employing as many ‘sporty’ design tropes to an SUV body style as possible – the only thing missing is a massive wing on the back; and somehow, it works. It’s ...

Skoda Vision RS concept previews new hatchback

Skoda has set the stage for its forthcoming Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus rival with the Vision RS, a concept car that features a performance plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain. Under the sporty details and concept flourishes, the Vision RS bears a close resemblance to the Rapid hatchback that will be introduced next year. The fact that it has been previewed in vRS form, complete with 245hp PHEV powertrain, shows how much further upmarket the new Rapid will go compared with the current value-led model. Skoda product marketing chief Björn Kroll said: “The current Rapid is too low-market. For this one, we have tried to balance it out.” Skoda will drop the slow-selling liftback version and concentrate on the Spaceback hatch for the new Rapid. At 4,356mm, the concept is just over 50mm longer than the current Rapid, and it has a 440-litre boot that's up by 25 litres. The concept retains some of the current Rapid’s des...

What to avoid during a car service

                   When it comes to getting their cars serviced at authorised outlets, owners usually go the whole hog. They want their cars coming out of service centres looking brand new, and are willing to pay for it. But do service centres take undue advantage of this? Yes, they do. Servicing may involve changing certain parts and oils after a set interval, but service centres will almost always try to plug in a few extras using technical jargon that a layman may not really understand. Certain processes are completely unnecessary, and customers end up paying extra as they are not aware of what's important and what's not. Also, most of the times, the service associate will throw you a hard sales pitch, and it's not always done with your best interests in mind. So what exactly are the things you don’t really need and should avoid?  Engine flushing Flushing an engine simply means cleaning the impure oil and gunk that ...