First round in the fight for World’s Largest Automaker 2023. This year, we won’t be distracted by the sorry showing of the “by name only” Alliance of Nissan/Mitsubishi and its estranged former French white knight. They are off the screen, and we will no longer watch their mutual minimization. World’s biggest battery-skeptic still tops the leader board. World’s noisiest all-battery automaker has big and loud aspirations, that’s all.
Toyota starts the year with sales down slightly, but with production up, or, in the words of the press release, “in January 2023, global sales were down year-on-year due to the impact from the spread of COVID-19 and the tight supply of semiconductors. Global production was up year-on-year in Japan and overseas as the result of a rebound from decreased production due to impact from the spread of COVID-19 and the tight supply of semiconductors in the previous year.” Wakarimasu ka?
Volkswagen’s deliveries are down 12% compared to an already very lousy January 2022. They really have to get their act together, unless they want to be overtaken by the Hyundai Group, which hit the new year running.
