The year 2022 will not be easy for car manufacturers, who once again had to survive several crises, starting with transport and even related to semiconductors. If the trend seems to be calming down, things are still volatile, and the results released by car groups for 2022 show some caution about the months and years ahead.

In the near future, the performance of the giants of the automotive industry will be measured by parameters other than sales, but for now The competition for who collects more vehicles continues.

In 2022 Toyota remained the world leader. Despite a very small decline, the Japanese giant retains the first place ahead of the Volkswagen group, with new ones behind, in particular the Kia-Hyundai Kia group, which has overtaken the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.

Toyota and Volkswagen (almost) do not fluctuate

The Japanese giant, with its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands, is the only one left with more than 10 million vehicles sold worldwide in 2022. 10,483,024 units compared to 10,495,548 in 2021. This is a small drop of only 0.1%.

The German giant felt the impact of the shortage of semiconductors more. Summarizing the sales of all brands, including premium brands such as Audi, Porsche and Bentley, commercial vehicles and trucks of brands controlled by Traton, the Volkswagen Group sold 8,260,000 carswhich is 7% less compared to 2021.

The Russian-Ukrainian crisis is hampering the development of Renault, Hyundai and Kia

The first changes in the standings took place on the third step of the podium, which does not include the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which, it is true, suffered from a lack of spare parts, but to a greater extent due to the cessation of activities in Russia after the war in Ukraine. The Russian market, where Renault was also present with its main local brand Lada, accounts for about half a million cars a year, more than half of the total loss of the Alliance.

Thus, the Kia-Hyundai group is in third place thanks to the excellent results of Hyundai and Kia, which with 3.9 and 2.9 million vehicles sold increased by 1.4% and 4.6% respectively. For the Korean group, this means an overall growth of almost 2%. 6.5 million cars were sold worldwide.

Stellantis shuts down, General Motors sinks

The Stellantis group, which is aiming to become the fourth group in the world, fell by more than 11%, but maintains a strong fifth place. It is followed, along with Ford, by the Chinese giants SAIC (the owner of MG, in particular) and FAW.

Compared to 2021, the latter gained places mainly due to the collapse of General Motors in the ranking: now the American group is facing a complex restructuring. Sales for 2022 are down a further 43%, partly due to Holden’s withdrawal from the Australian market.

As a result, China’s SAIC rose to sixth place despite slightly lower volumes, while FAW rose two places to eighth thanks to a 16% increase in sales. Between the two, Ford, which also gained more than 6%, climbed two positions.

Suzuki also scores very well, with approximately three million vehicles soldgrowth of 3.5% for the year and a good eleventh place in the rating.

Chinese manufacturers are gaining ground

GAC, which has not yet officially arrived in Europe but will open a design center in Milan in 2022, showed growth of more than 13% with 2.4 million vehicles sold, which allows it to gain three positions compared to 2021 and climb to thirteenth place . .

As for Geely, which also includes Volvo, Polestar, smart and Lotus, the group continues to reap the benefits of its expansion: with +50% and growth of 1.5 to 2.3 million cars. And his ascent is not over.

German luxury in decline

Among the brands losing positions are BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Splitting off from its heavy-duty truck organization (now Daimler AG) and announcing a policy more focused on margins than volumes, Mercedes points to 17^thousand and loses four positions compared to 2021. On the other hand, the Stuttgart-based firm makes more money, and vehicles sell for more on average.

For its part, BMW also makes more money by selling fewer cars. The Munich firm indicates 14^thousand place with a decrease in sales by 4.8% for the year Last year, 2.4 million models were sold.

Classification

1. Toyota – 10,483,024
2. Volkswagen Group – 8,262,800
3. Kia-Hyundai – 6,848,198
4. Alliance Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi – 6,289,131
5. Stellantis – 5,839,000
6. SAIC-5 300,000
7. Ford – 4,200,000
8. FAW – 4,100,000
9. Honda-3 870 161
10. General Motors – 3,600,000
11. Suzuki – 2,968,494
12. Dongfeng – 2,600,000
13. GAC-2,433,800
14. BMW – 2,399,632
15. Chang’an – 2,340,000
16. Geely – 2,300,000
17. Mercedes-Benz – 2,043,900
18. BYD-1,860,000
19. BAIC-1,450,000
20. Tesla – 1,313,851