Toyota Motor maintained its leadership in the global automotive market in the first half of 2026. Despite a decline in sales, the Japanese conglomerate has held the top spot worldwide for vehicle sales from January to June for the seventh consecutive year.

In the first six months of the year, Toyota, including all brands within the group, sold 5.39 million vehicles. This represents a 2.8% decrease from the previous year and marks the first decline in semi-annual sales in the last two years. Nevertheless, the company significantly outpaced its closest competitor, Volkswagen Group, which sold 4.13 million vehicles.

Results varied significantly across individual markets. In Japan itself, sales grew by 4.4%, reaching 1.1 million vehicles. One of the growth factors was the domestic market launch of the updated electric crossover Toyota bZ4X.

The most significant decline was recorded in China, where Toyota's sales fell by 17.1% to 694,670 vehicles. The company faced increasing competition from local manufacturers and an overall market slowdown.

At the same time, Toyota continues to increase sales of vehicles with various types of electrified powertrains. In the first half of the year, their sales grew by 9.1%, reaching a record 2.71 million units. Sales of fully electric models increased 2.4 times to 193,172 vehicles. Despite such a high growth rate, electric vehicles still account for a relatively small share of the conglomerate's total sales.