Toyota sold a record number of passenger vehicles in 2023, beating Volkswagen as the world’s top car maker for a fourth consecutive year.

Global sales, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, rose 7.2% to a record 11.2m vehicles, the company said, according to Bloomberg.

Production rose 8.6% to 11.5m units.

According to Bloomberg, BYD, which sells only EVs and plug-in hybrids, sold around 3.02m units in 2023 but Toyota sold only 104,018 battery EVs. It initially aimed to sell 202,000 units during the fiscal year that ends 31 March, but lowered that goal to 123,000 in November, citing issues with demand and supply.

Separately on Tuesday, Honda Motor said its worldwide output increased 8.2% to 4.2m cars, despite a poor performance in Asia. Annual sales rose 5.6% to about 4m units, growing for the first time in seven years on strong pent-up demand in the US, Bloomberg said.

Nissan Motor said global output jumped about 6% to 3.4m vehicles, although the company was struggling in China, the report added.

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