TOKYO, Jan 30 Reuters Toyota Motor Corp sold 10.5 million vehicles in 2022, it said on Monday, defending its title as the world39;s topselling automaker for a third straight year.

Global sales for the group, including truck unit Hino Motors and smallcar maker Daihatsu, inched down 0.1 as record overseas sales of 8.6 million vehicles helped offset a 9.6 dip in its home market to 1.9 million.

Secondranked rival Volkswagen Group earlier this month reported its lowest sales in over a decade, of 8.3 million vehicles, as COVID19 lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine upended supply chains.

While some chiprelated supply constraints remained for Toyota as well, the Japanese automaker said strong demand in Asia and an increase in the production capacity and optimisation in Asia and North America helped it boost global production by 5 in 2022.

Toyota in November revised its production forecast for the current financial year through the end of March, to 9.2 million vehicles from 9.7 million.

Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama Editing by ChangRan Kim

Source Reuters