1979 Daihatsu Taft on 2040-cars

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Toyota outsells VW for global sales crown, apologizes with a vow to 'be honest'

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda bows in apology during a press conference Tuesday over the group companies' quality scandals. (Getty Images)   Every quarter, the stock market hangs on how much sales growth Tesla and other startups have experienced. There's growth, but then there's sheer output, and when it comes to deliveries dominance, one company can't be touched. Toyota on Tuesday announced that it remained the world's top-selling automaker for the fourth year running, with record sales of 11.2 million vehicles in 2023. Toyota's global group sales jumped 7.2% last year; the numbers include sales at Daihatsu and truck unit Hino Motors. Toyota's parent-only vehicles, which include the Toyota and Lexus brands, hit a record of 10.3 million vehicles in 2023. Gasoline-electric hybrids made up about a third of those. Battery electric vehicles accounted for less than 1%. Toyota's annual output handily beat runner-up Volkswagen Group, which this month reported a 12% rise in deliveries last year to 9.2 million cars. That growth was driven largely by demand for Audi, which sold 1.9 million vehicles. The auto industry in 2023 enjoyed a post-pandemic recovery as supply chain bottlenecks eased, though shipping problems through the Red Sea so far this year have stalled that progress by some automakers, causing some car plants in Europe to suspend production. Toyota's global group sales have now topped 10 million vehicles for nine of the past 10 years, except for 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a blow to the auto sector. Scandals and an apology Toyota's chairman apologized on Tuesday for scandals at the three group companies. Daihatsu, Hino and affiliate Toyota Industries have been beset by governance issues involving certification test procedures for cars and engines that could potentially hurt the brand's global reputation for quality and safety. "I would like to express my deepest apologies to our customers and stakeholders for the inconvenience and concern caused by the successive irregularities at Hino Motors, Daihatsu and Toyota Industries," Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda told reporters. He was speaking at an event to announce a vision for the Toyota group, which was founded by his great-grandfather and now includes 17 companies.

Japan could consolidate to three automakers by 2020

Sergio Marchionne might see his dream of big mergers in the auto industry become a reality, and an analyst thinks Japan is a likely place for consolidation to happen. Takaki Nakanishi from Jefferies Group LLC tells Bloomberg the country's car market could combine to just three or fewer major players by 2020, from seven today. "To have one or two carmakers in a country is not only natural, but also helpful to their competitiveness," Nakanishi told Bloomberg. "Japan has just too many and the resources have been too spread out. It's a natural trend to consolidate and reduce some of the wasted resources." Nakanishi's argument echoes Marchionne's reasons to push for a merger between FCA and General Motors. Automakers spend billions on research and development, but their competitors also invest money to create the same solutions. Consolidating could conceivably put that R&D money into new avenues. "In today's global marketplace, it is increasingly difficult for automakers to compete in lower volume segments like sports cars, hydrogen fuel cells, or electrified vehicles on their own," Ed Kim, vice president of Industry Analysis at AutoPacific, told Autoblog. Even without mergers, these are the areas where Japanese automakers already have partners for development. Kim cited examples like Toyota and Subaru's work on the BRZ and FR-S and its collaboration with BMW on a forthcoming sports car. Honda and GM have also reportedly deepened their cooperation on green car tech. After Toyota's recent buyout of previous partner Daihatsu, Nakanishi agrees with rumors that the automotive giant could next pursue Suzuki. He sees them like a courting couple. "For Suzuki, it's like they're just starting to exchange diaries and have yet to hold hands. When Toyota's starts to hold 5 percent of Suzuki's shares, this will be like finally touching fingertips," Nakanishi told Bloomberg. "I absolutely do believe that we are not finished seeing consolidation in Japan," Kim told Autoblog. Rising development costs to meet tougher emissions regulations make it hard for minor players in the market to remain competitive. "The smaller automakers like Suzuki, Mazda, and Mitsubishi are challenged to make it on their own in the global marketplace. Consolidation for them may be inevitable." Related Video:

Daihatsu's Tokyo Auto Salon cars are absolutely adorable

There are some pretty weird and wonderful cars coming to the Tokyo Auto Salon in January, from Honda's vintage-style S660 coupe to the off-road Mitsubishi Delica D:5. But as cool as they are, none can approach Daihatsu for sheer cuteness. The company is showing off special versions of its tiny Kei class cars at the custom car show. We've got photos of most of them, but we're going to highlight the best of the bunch, below. We'll start with the Daihatsu Copen coupe (the little green guy up there). The Copen is the Japanese car company's micro-sized roadster, similar in scale to the Honda S660, except it's front-wheel drive. It also has a trick retractable hard top. The Copen coupe loses the retractable top in favor of a rakish permanent hard top. It's based on a concept from 2016 that clearly was popular enough to merit a production model. The styling also comes from the Copen Cero, which has friendly round lights and soft corners, a significant contrast to the edgy, aggressive Copen Robe and XPlay. The coupe model starts a little over $20,000 at current conversion rates and is available with either a CVT or a five-speed manual coupled to a turbocharged 660-cc three-cylinder engine. Daihatsu is also showing more practical cars including some custom versions of the Mira Tocot. The two that grabbed our attention are the Tocot Sporza and the Tocot Active. The former is an angry red hot hatch with a unique red and black paint scheme. Along the side are giant letters spelling out the Tocot Sporza name. This look has a lot of history at Daihatsu, having been featured on the Mira TR-XX, as well as the Charade De Tomaso. And, yes, we mean that De Tomaso. The Tocot Active, on the other hand, has a simple, retro aesthetic with its cheerful blue paint, plain black door handles, and ultra classy cream steel wheels. Then we have a special edition of what we've previous proclaimed to be the most adorable car in the world: the Move Canbus. It looks like it's just happy to be alive, and looks all the better with the blue and white two-tone paint job that would be right at home on a VW Bus. But the German van isn't where the color scheme comes from. Instead, it's inspired by Hatsune Miku, a virtual character from a Japanese singing synthesizer that is enormously popular in Japan. The blue and white mirror her hair and outfits, and small pops of fuchsia match her hair bows. We also have to quickly note the Daihatsu Hijet Marche.