Hyundai Motor Group's headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul ( Hyundai Motor Group)
Hyundai Motor Group's headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul ( Hyundai Motor Group)

Hyundai Motor Group has retained its position as the world’s third largest automaker, while narrowing the sales gap with the top two firms, Toyota Motor and Volkswagen Group.

Toyota Motor announced on Thursday that it delivered some 10.82 million units in 2024, including sales from its three affiliates: Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino.

This figure secures the Japanese auto giant’s spot in first place, a position it has held since 2020. Volkswagen ranked second, selling 9.03 million units, and Hyundai followed with 7.23 million units.

The Korean automaker has secured third place for three consecutive years after it rose two notches from fifth in 2022.

While all top three automakers were beset by a sales fall last year amid a global economic slowdown and weak demand for electric vehicles, Hyundai managed to see a smaller drop in sales compared to the other two. Hyundai's sales volume decreased by 1 percent from a year ago, while Toyota and Volkswagen experienced on-year sales declines of 3.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

The main factor that hurt Toyota Motor's sales was the production suspension of three models for three months due to a scandal involving massive cheating on certification tests.

Honda and Nissan, the Japanese automakers that could push Hyundai out of the third spot if their ongoing merger negotiations succeed, were overtaken by Chinese EV maker BYD. Honda and Nissan have sold 3.81 million and 3.35 million units each.

BYD sold 4.27 million units, achieving a high 41.3 percent on-year growth in sales. Rolling out low-price models, BYD has eclipsed Volkswagen in the Chinese market, which accounts for around 30 percent of the German company’s overall sales.

By Lim Jae-seong (forestjs@heraldcorp.com)