Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s Ghosn Names Alliance King of 2017
We’ve reached the end of January, and automakers are releasing their sales tallies for the whole of last year. Not all of the numbers have been made public yet, but if you can believe Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance leader Carlos Ghosn’s speech in mid-January his auto empire was the largest automaker in the world for 2017.
This declaration might be confusing, as Volkswagen reported sales of 10.7 million vehicles for 2017 and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance only reported 10.6 million in sales. The Drive reports that Ghosn can make his assertion (for now) because he is correct based on one technicality. The VW reported sales figure includes 200,000 heavy trucks not included in the Alliance’s vehicle sales reports. Once you take out VW’s sales inflation, Nissan and its partners easily win the race to the top.
In 2016, the then-named Renault-Nissan Alliance came in third place, with VW as the world’s largest automaker and Toyota in second place. Toyota has not yet released its sales figures for last year, but based on its reported monthly sales it seems as if that global brand’s sales will rest around 10.35 million vehicles, placing it comfortably in third place.
For now, Carlos Ghosn’s declaration that his Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is the largest automaker in the world can stand as fact. As more details are released about the Alliance’s sales last year, it will be interesting to see if Nissan’s leap to the auto manufacturer throne was due to increases in sales or Renault-Nissan’s acquisition of Mitsubishi in late 2016.
No matter who ends up with the crown, industry analysts are impressed with the sales performance of these top brands, considering slowing car sales in 2017. We’ll have to keep an eye on 2018 to see who is victorious as this year starts off.
News Source: The Drive
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