Volkswagen Overtakes Ford as No. 3 Automaker Worldwide

Volkswagen Overtakes Ford as No. 3 Automaker Worldwide

Ford Motor Co. started taking large steps away from gas guzzlers and toward a fuel-efficient lineup earlier this month, but the efforts came too late to prevent Volkswagen from overtaking it for the No. 3 spot among automakers by global sales volume.

The change reflects sales figures the two automakers recently provided for the first half of this year. If sales trends hold true through the remainder of this year, the new world order among automotive giants will be Toyota in the No. 1 position, followed by General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford, respectively.

Toyota led GM at the half by about 278,000 vehicles, while VW saw a global sales increase of 7.2 percent to 3.31 million vehicles and Ford watched its sales fall 11 percent to 3.09 million vehicles.

Ford, which has been exceedingly slow to respond to the growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, ceded the No. 2 spot to Toyota in 2003.

Exacerbating the situation for Ford is the recent sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors. The two brands no longer contribute to Ford's overall sales tally. But with sales of the British luxury brands under 300,000 vehicles a year, they would not have contributed enough to enable Ford to retain its position among automakers.

Scott Doggett, Contributor

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.