Halfway through the game, you can already guess the classification with which 2022 will end, in terms of car production. Toyota is by far the manufacturer that has sold the most units in the first half of the year, with 5,137,811 vehicles, a drop of 6% compared to the previous year.
However, this decrease in units is considerably less than that registered by European companies, much more affected by the shortage of semiconductors and the war in Ukraine. In second place, with a fall of 22.2%, is the Volkswagen Group, which delivered 3,875,100 vehicles.
Closing the podium for the first time in history is the Hyundai Group, with 3,295,810 sales. Its sourcing deals with other semiconductor companies have allowed it to overtake the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which ranked first in 2017, when it topped 10.6 million.
Now, the Alliance is in low hours and back to fifth position. Its sales -the most difficult to calculate of all manufacturers, since its parts do not do it in a unified way- total 2,909,321 in the first half of the year, a decrease of 24.2%. Contributing to this was the sharp drop in Renault, which, with its exit from the Russian market, registered -29.6%, barely exceeding one million units.
Ahead of it is another conglomerate in which France plays an important role: Stellantis. In its half-year results, the consortium declared 2,934,000 deliveries, 7% less than a year ago. Its good performance in the US and Europe stands out, especially with regard to commercial vehicles.
The decline in the industry in the first half of the year is around 10%, so exceeding this indicator is decidedly positive. Looking ahead to the end of the year, with these figures, the estimates are 10.3 million for Toyota, 7.8 million for the Volkswagen Group, 6.6 million for the Hyundai Group and around 5.8 million for the Alliance and Stellantis, who compete for fourth and fifth position.
record profits
Despite these general declines in sales, all manufacturers have recorded increases in their operating profit, a situation that has triggered the shortage of semiconductors, since it has allowed them to focus their operations on more profitable vehicles and raise the prices of their range.
While Toyota only has production and sales data for the semester, the Volkswagen Group recorded an operating profit of 11,358 million euros, 12.9% more —some of its individual brands, such as Audi, increased their operating profit by 51%.
Stellantis, for example, also saw an increase in its profit before taxes: it recorded 12,374 million in the first half of the year, 44% more than in the previous year. Renault, for its part, recorded an operating profit of 988 million, more than double that of a year ago.
The same thing happens in the premium segment: Mercedes-Benz recorded an operating profit of 4,622 million euros, 5.7% more than a year ago, with 8.1% less passenger car sales: 974,100 units. BMW, for its part, delivered 2.5 million vehicles, 8.4% more, and its operating profit amounted to 16,060 million euros, 207% more.