Nissan Passed Honda in Total Global Sales

Thanks to a strong presence in China, Nissan has passed Honda in total global sales.

Maybe it’s not accurate to say that Nissan passed Honda. It’s more descriptive to say Nissan blew the doors off of Honda in total global sales. Nissan’s sales grew by 21.5 percent in 2010 for total global sales for a record 4,080,588 units. According to the Wall Street Journal, Honda's sales rose just 5% to 3.56 million from 3.39 million a year before.

Factor in Nissan’s alliance with Renault and you have a group that passed Honda in total global sales, as well as a lot of other companies. The Renault-Nissan Alliance had a record year with 7,276,398 units sold in 2010, a 19.6 percent increase over 2009 in a market that expanded by 11.8 percent. The Renault-Nissan Alliance captured 10.3 percent of the global market in 2010, according to Nissan.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these are how the numbers break down for global sales (with Renault/Nissan not considered a single company for counting purposes):

1. Toyota Motor Corp., which sold 8.42 million cars and trucks in 2010, retained its top spot in the world;
2. General Motors Co., at 8.39 million vehicles;
3. Volkswagen AG sold 7.14 million vehicles globally
4. Ford Motor Co. at 5.31 million.

China has become Nissan’s number one market worldwide with 1,023,638 units sold, a 35.5 percent increase on 2009. Sales were led by the midsize sedan Sylphy, with 142,367 units sold and the flagship car model Teana, with sales of 140,842 units.

Nissan may have passed Honda in total global sales but it still lags behind in the United States. Honda had 1.2 million in sales, including Acura, while Nissan had 908,570, including Infiniti.

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