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Volkswagen-Porsche overtakes Toyota as world’s largest automaker

10 November 2009 14:31 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“ APA-Economics. Volkswagen-Porsche has overtaken Toyota to become the world’s largest car manufacturer as the German group benefits from state-backed stimulus packages around the globe, Reuters reported.
The maker of the Golf, Polo and Boxster brands has produced 4.4m vehicles so far this year, outstripping its Japanese rival which has seen 4m cars roll off production lines since January.
The estimates by IHS Global Insight reflect the benefit on the German manufacturer of government measures in China, Germany and Britain to prop up their automotive industries and stimulate consumer demand in the wake of the worldwide economic downturn.
The group has launched a range of VW models tailored for the Chinese market and sold 128,000 cars there in July, accounting for nearly a quarter of its global sales for that month as it moves aggressively into the world’s largest car market.
China boosted demand for cars by cutting sales taxes and introducing subsidies, while the UK and Germany persuaded consumers to buy new vehicles through cash-for-clunkers schemes, where car owners were paid to trade in their old vehicle for a new model.
However, IHS Global Insight said Volkswagen’s ascent to the top of the manufacturing league was aided by Toyota’s decision to halve its output in the first quarter of the year. Christoph StÃ¼rmer, a director at IHS Global Insight, said Toyota had "braked extremely hard" at the beginning of 2009, slashing output from 2.1m cars in the quarter to 1.1m.
"That extremely hard brake has been keeping Toyota behind Volkswagen by quite a margin. Due to government incentives, Volkswagen was not forced to decelerate so hard," said StÃ¼rmer.
Toyota, which employs 3,560 people at its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, became the world’s largest carmaker last year after overtaking General Motors, which had held the title for 80 years.
The firm has the capacity to make 10m vehicles a year but it expects to make 7m vehicles in 2009, compared with an output of 9.24m last year. Toyota is preparing for a prolonged dip in demand and has announced plans to suspend a production line in Japan for more than a year from next spring.
Last week it posted a better than expected profit of Â¥21.8bn (Â£144m) for the three months to December â€“ albeit compared with a profit of Â¥139bn for the same period last year. It more than halved its projected loss from Â¥450bn down to Â¥200bn.