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Toyota Keeps Title as Top Carmaker With Record Sales in 2025
Carmaker Widens Lead Over Volkswagen by Posting Record Sales
Toyota Motor Corp. kept its title as the world’s biggest carmaker for a sixth year, widening its lead over Volkswagen AG by posting record sales despite trade turmoil and growing competition.
Global sales in 2025 — including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. — rose 4.6% from the prior year to 11.3 million units, the company said Jan. 29. Production climbed 5.7% to 11.2 million. VW’s total group sales fell 0.5% to 9 million vehicles.
The numbers show that Toyota has been able to remain on track despite President Donald Trump’s trade war and the rise of Chinese carmakers. Global car manufacturers have been warning that they face billions of dollars in losses due to tariffs, as they raise prices, shift production to the U.S. or pare output.
Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles in the U.S. saw an 8% bump in sales and rose almost 10% in production, thanks largely to a rebound in the popularity of gas-electric hybrids. Total sales in Japan, which accounted for about 18% of the worldwide total, increased 12%.
Trump imposed a 15% tariff on Japan that would encompass all cars and car parts imported to the U.S. While the island nation dodged a bullet by talking the president down from steeper duties, that still represented a sizable increase from previous rates of 2.5%. Most Japanese automakers looked to soften the impact by moving to increase output in the U.S., but still they collectively bore billions of yen in losses as a result.
Honda Motor Co.’s global annual sales fell 7.5% to 3.5 million units. That included a 24% drop in China, it said Jan. 29. Production shrank 9%.
Nissan Motor Co. sold about 3.2 million vehicles, down 4.4% from the previous year.
Among its peers, Toyota was one of the few to regain some stability in China, where domestic electric vehicle brands led by BYD Co. have claimed much of the world’s largest passenger vehicle market. BYD, which overtook Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. last year as the world’s biggest EV maker, delivered 4.6 million vehicles in 2025 — almost half of which were fully electric.
In contrast, Toyota sold just under 200,000 battery-powered EVs last year. Only 4,227 units were delivered to customers in Japan, where they have yet to break through like they have in other major markets.
