Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Drops to No. 3 in Worldwide Sales

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance became the world’s largest automaker in 2017 and 2018, but troubles that began with the indictment and arrest of CEO Carlos Ghosn has sent ripples across the brand. And so for the first half of this year, the triumvirate has surrendered the top spot in global sales to Volkswagen.

Worse, the Alliance didn’t even make it to number two, as that spot went to Toyota.

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi sold a combined 5.21 million cars from January to June, signaling a 5.9 percent drop from the same period last year. Among the three, Nissan experienced the biggest sales reduction, falling at eight percent.

These numbers underline the mounting struggles faced by the French-Japanese coalition, as Nissan’s share continues to decline in global markets, especially in North America.

Nissan announced job cuts totaling 12,500 workers after a 99-percent drop in its operating profit.

The sales numbers for the first half of the year was released Tuesday, July 30. It showed that Volkswagen improved from second place to first, selling 5.37 million cars. Toyota moved from third to second place, with 5.31 million units sold.

Though Volkswagen sits firmly in the number one position at the moment, all has not been well for the German brand, as it actually saw a 2.7 percent drop, mainly to poor sales in China. However, US sales were able to make up for the slack.

Toyota was the only one in the top three to enjoy growth across the board. Its numbers rose by two percent as the Japanese brand enjoyed robust sales in China and Western Europe. It’s chasing VW by only 50,000 units, as opposed to nearly 330,000 in 2018.