The Volkswagen Group was the biggest automaker by volume in 2017 after its various brands delivered a combined 10.74 million vehicles, representing a substantial rise of 4.3 percent on 2016's total. It means the VW Group has now been the biggest automaker for two consecutive years.
In second place was the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance, which delivered 10.6 million vehicles in 2017. There isn't a previous total to compare the figure as Renault Nissan only joined with Mitsubishi during 2016.
There was some speculation that the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance could claim the top spot after the automaker posted the highest deliveries midway through 2017. However, the VW Group pulled back into the lead in the second half of the year thanks to an acceleration in deliveries. In fact, the VW Group delivered almost 1.0 million vehicles in just the month of December.
In third place was Toyota, which delivered 10.3 million vehicles in 2017, up 2.6 percent on 2016's total. Though an improvement, the gap with the VW Group and Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance could expand in coming years as Toyota hasn't matched its rivals in the growing Chinese market. Toyota lost the top spot to the VW Group in 2016 after holding it for five years.
The Volkswagen brand was the biggest seller for the VW Group, accounting for 6,728,100 deliveries when you include commercial vehicles—and the Golf was the single most popular model. Audi was next best-selling brand with 1,878,100 deliveries followed by Skoda with 1,200,500 deliveries.
And it was the Asia Pacific region where most of the deliveries ended up, 4,505,800 to be exact, or 4.3 percent more than the previous year. Meanwhile here in the United States the VW Group delivered 625,100 vehicles, up a substantial 5.8 percent on the previous year, suggesting consumers have left concerns of the diesel scandal well and truly in the past.
