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Volkswagen overtakes Toyota in race to become king of car makers

They call it the “People’s Car” and it seems the public agrees. Volkswagen AG is on track to race to the lead in worldwide sales after overtaking Toyota Motor Corp in vehicle deliveries in the first half of 2015. Toyota posted vehicle sales of 5.02 million between January and June, lagging behind VW, which reported 5.04 million. Deliveries slowed down by 1.5 percent for Toyoto compared to just 0.5 percent for the German company thanks, in part, to an acceleration in car demand in Europe, despite a slump in China, its biggest market. In 2007, VW set itself a goal of becoming the world’s largest automaker by 2018. It’s an objective the manufacturer could now achieve three years early. But with industry-wide deliveries only up by 4.4 percent in the first six months of 2015, it may not be a smooth road to the world title.