While both automakers’ China operations have been hamstrung by lockdown measures, Toyota has better managed to limit the damage.
The Japanese manufacturer said Monday that worldwide deliveries slipped 5.8% in the first four months of the year, whereas sales for its German rival plunged 26%.
Toyota has managed to continue outpacing VW despite coming up short of a production target last month that the company had pared back due to the spread of Covid-19 in Japan and overseas.
President Akio Toyoda told employees in March that the automaker was re-examining manufacturing plans along with suppliers to avoid "exhaustion.”
The company set a record for worldwide vehicle output that month.
VW has struggled this year in China, its largest market, with deliveries dropping 30% through April.
The automaker also has a much bigger presence than Toyota in Western Europe, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has further disrupted already strained supply chains.
