VW surpasses Toyota to become world's largest carmaker

Despite receiving negative publicity owing to the infamous dieselgate emissions scandal, Volkswagen has emerged to be world's largest carmaker for the calendar year 2016. The German automaker surpassed Toyota to take the top spot.

The Volkswagen Automotive Group (VAG) sold 10.31 million cars in 2016, recording a year-on-year growth of 3.8%. Meanwhile, Toyota registered around 10.175 million unit sales during the same period, with a growth of just 0.2%. As a result, Toyota has been dethroned from the leading position after four years.

Volkswagen's growth was hugely influenced by an increase in demand in the Chinese markets. Volkswagen cars in China weren't affected during the dieselgate emission scandals since China doesn't allow sales of any diesel cars. On the other hand, Toyota suffered from dropping demand for its cash cow - the Toyota Camry sedan, in the US and China markets.

Source: BBC