Who is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world?

Answer 1

It's a tight bunch in the top 3 so it can change from year to year, but right now as of February 2014, Toyota is the top selling automobile manufacturer in the world with 9.98-million cars sold in 2013. Nipping at it's heels in 2nd place is General Motors (GM), who sold 9.71-million vehicles last year. And a virtual tie, though technically in 3rd place, is Volkswagen Group (VW) with 9.7-million vehicles sold.

So you can see how close these numbers are and you can expect changes from year to year. Toyota expects something like 10.2+ million vehicles sold in 2014. Depending on how you consider 'largest automaker' you might argue that VW is the largest auto corporation due to their massive global infrastructure. In terms of total revenue, VW took in $265-billion USD in 2012, whereas Toyota took in $210-billion USD in 2013. So I guess it depends on how you look at 'biggest or largest' in considering who is king. Vehicles sold, revenue, employee size, or total profit -- all ways to look at it, take your pick. I choose to look at vehicles sold because it's most relevant to me as a consumer.