The decline was especially sharp in the Middle East, the US, and China, though Toyota retained its position as the world’s top-selling automaker for the sixth consecutive year in 2025.Toyota Motor said on Monday global vehicle sales fell for a second successive month in March, as a sharp drop in the Middle East and a model changeover for its popular RAV4 sport utility vehicle weighed on deliveries.
Global sales shrank 7.3 per cent from the same month a year earlier to 897,871 vehicles, with overseas sales down 7.2 per cent and those in Japan falling 7.8 per cent. Toyota’s figures include its luxury Lexus brand.
By region, sales in the Middle East plunged by nearly a third in March, while they fell 8.5 per cent in the United States and 8.0 per cent in China.
The Middle East, which is a relatively small market for Toyota, reported sales of almost 34,000 vehicles in March. Toyota did not give a reason for the sharp decline in the region’s sales.
Other automakers have said car demand in the Middle East weakened as the US-Israeli war against Iran disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and wider economic activity.
Toyota said underlying demand remained steady overall but sales were hit as it shifted production from the old RAV4 to a new version of the model, which is one of its best-selling ones globally.
Global production rose 2.1 per cent in March from a year earlier, climbing 4.9 per cent in the US and 7.7 per cent in China. It dropped 3.3 per cent in Japan.
Toyota was the world’s top-selling automaker for a sixth consecutive year in 2025, Reuters calculations showed.
