Toyota Takes Top Car-Maker Title Back from GM

Toyota sold 9.75 million vehicles in 2012, a 23% gain in global sales that allowed it to reclaim the top spot from GM and fend off Volkswagen AG, as had been widely expected. Toyota’s U.S. rival sold 9.29 million vehicles in 2012, while the German auto giant sold 9.07 million.

Nissan MotorCo. and Honda Motor Co. also logged record sales as Japan’s motor industry gave yet another sign of its resurgence from the supply-chain disruptions of the previous year caused by the earthquake in Japan and flooding in Thailand.

Toyota, whose sales volume includes minicar maker Daihatsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd., bounced back from those production problems to sell more vehicles than ever before on demand for its Prius family of hybrid cars, sedans like the Camry and SUVs such as the Lexus RX 350. The Toyota City-based company first became No. 1 in 2008 and held the position for three years.

Nissan, Japan’s second-largest auto maker, said Monday that it sold a record 4.94 million vehicles, up 5.8% from a year earlier, while Honda, Japan’s next biggest car maker, sold 3.82 million, a rise of 19%.

Those big sales gains, coupled with a sharp weakening of the yen against the dollar late in the year, may bode well for the profit picture at Japan’s auto makers, though the continuing impact of Tokyo-Beijing tensions on demand in China is difficult to predict. A weaker yen increases the value of dollar-denominated sales overseas and makes Japanese exports more competitive abroad.