Strategy 2018 seems to be right on track for the Volkswagen group - the German automaker has surpassed Toyota in terms of total vehicle deliveries in the first half of 2015. The numbers suggest that competition between Wolfsburg and its Japanese rival is expected to intensify for the remainder of the year.
Volkswagen - including sub-brands such as Scania and MAN - moved an accumulative total of 5.04 million vehicles worldwide, while Toyota (including Daihatsu and Hino) trailed slightly behind with 5.02 million vehicles delivered, a mere 20,000 vehicles separating the brands.
Bloomberg reports that Europe was one of the greatest contributors to Volkswagen's achievement in the first six months of the year. The report adds that the boost in demand for automobiles in its own domestic market has helped cushion the impact from increasingly challenging markets such as China, Russia and some South American and South-East Asian countries.
The figures, however, are lower when compared to that for the corresponding period last year - the German automaker's sales have fallen by 0.5% compared to first six months of 2014.
It was reported that the new Volkswagen Passat and the Porsche Macan helped the brand's sales in Western Europe, boosting it by more than 6%, while Toyota's market demand was propelled by the Lexus NX and the Toyota Rav 4 compact SUV in the US.
Last year, Toyota took the honours as the world's top automaker with total sales of 10.23 million units sold worldwide. Volkswagen finished second with 10.14 million, with General Motors in third with 9.92 million vehicles.
On the local front, Volkswagen has also managed higher figures for the first six months - the company registered an increase of 38.1% vehicles sold to date this year compared to the total number of vehicles sold for the first half of 2014.
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