The Toyota Motor Corp. group sold 4.16 million cars globally in the January-June period, likely becoming the world's best-selling carmaker on a first-half basis for the first time in six years, data released by the company showed Thursday.

The figure represented a 21.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier on slowing demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. But it surpassed the 3.89 million units sold by Germany's Volkswagen AG.

The alliance between Nissan Motor Co., Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will release its sales data later in the day but it is expected to fall short of Toyota's.

==Kyodo

© Kyodo News International, Inc., source Newswire