As stated last month, “the dynamics currently favor the Germans,” and the dynamics are pushing Volkswagen past Toyota as we go into the second half of the year. If we charitably assume that Volkswagen’s “deliveries” are equal to Toyota’s “production,” the Germans now are some 60,000 units ahead of the Japanese. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance did not start for this round. Come hell or low numbers, Renault is observing its sacrosanct summer holidays, and July numbers will be published in a month, when everybody is back, tanned and rested.
Volkswagen and Toyota are slowly coming out of their virus-induced slump. Year-to-date, both are down 24% and 26% respectively, but the July numbers are beginning to look respectable again, especially at Volkswagen, where July deliveries were only 0.2% below July 2019. Toyota still has slight sniffles, its July output is 14% below the same month of the prior year, still a big improvement over the previous months.
As for the alleged Alliance, it’s probably prudent for them to avoid bright sunlight. January to July, both Nissan’s and Mitsubishi Motors’ production were close to 40% below last year’s numbers.
