Volkswagen Now The World's Top Selling Car

(RTTNews) - German automaker Volkswagen AG (VOW.BE, VLKAF, VKW.L) pipped its Japanese rival Toyota Motor Co. (TM) to become the world's biggest automaker by sales in the first half of 2015. It has already been Europe's largest car maker.

Volkswagen sold 5.04 million vehicles worldwide in the first six months of the year, edging ahead of Toyota's sales of 5.02 million vehicles in the same period.

Toyota reported earlier in the day that worldwide sales for the first half declined 1.5 percent to 5.02 million vehicles from the same period last year amid slow growth in emerging markets.

Volkswagen, which owns Audi and Porsche, also reported on July 17 that worldwide sales for the first half of 2015 edged down 0.5 percent to 5.04 million vehicles from last year.

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn had for long been focusing on snatching the coveted No. 1 spot by 2018. During his eight-year tenure at the helm, Winterkorn has overhauled Volkswagen and made it one of the world's most successful car makers.

However, it is to be seen whether the German automaker can retain the title for the full year, due to slowdown in China. Its success has been propelled in recent times by soaring sales in China. Sales in China dropped 3.9 percent in the first half of 2015 and may plummet going forward.

Despite sales improving on the whole, Volkswagen has struggled in recent years in the U.S. market even with an upbeat auto industry due to quality issues amid massive airbag related recalls.

General Motors Co. (GM) was the world's biggest automaker by a long way for more than seven decades until being surpassed by Toyota in 2008. However, Toyota lost the top spot again to General Motors in 2011 in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that hit north-eastern Japan.

Toyota then became number one again in 2013 and had held the title since then until Volkswagen edged it out in the first half of 2015. However, Toyota still remains highly profitable and retains strong global market share.

Meanwhile, General Motors is holding on to the third spot with sale of 4.86 million vehicles in the first half of 2015. Another U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) also announced that global sales for the first half of the year edged up to 3.26 million vehicles from last year.