In 2023, global automobile sales in 86 countries were up 9.6% year-on-year to 88.15 million units.

Although high prices and rising interest rates were negative factors, the elimination of product supply shortages in developed countries in Europe and the United States was a positive factor, leading to the first increase in two years. Compared to 2019 (92.07 million units), the market is recovering to its pre-Corona disaster level, down 4.3%.

In 2024, demand is expected to recover to over 90 million units for the first time in five years, partly due to increased demand in emerging countries, but concerns have emerged over persistently high loan interest rates, economic uncertainty, rising product prices, and supply chain restructuring due to the U.S.-China conflict. It is likely that the market will not expand to exceed the peak 2017 level (96.22 million units) until 2027 or later.

By country (2023), the top 15 countries all exceeded the previous year’s results. China (26.08 million units, up 6.1% year-on-year) led the list, followed by the United States (15.96 million units, up 12.4% year-on-year), India (5.12 million units, up 7.6% year-on-year), Japan (4.78 million units, up 13.8% year-on-year), and Germany (3.16 million units, up 7.9% year-on-year). Among the top 15 countries, Russia and Turkey posted year-on-year increases of more than 50%.

By group, Toyota (excluding Subaru) was the only automaker to exceed 10 million units, up 6.6% to 11.31 million units, while VW (up 10.0% to 9.05 million units) has been below 10 million units for four consecutive years.