Toyota raising stake in Daihatsu to make it wholly owned

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. sold over 10 million units worldwide in 2015 and the sale, beating Volkswagen and General Motors, earned the giant carmaker the world’s top car-seller spot for the fourth straight year, it said on Wednesday.

Toyota is to take full control of Daihatsu in a move that’s aimed at enhancing the small vehicle expertise of both companies.

The deal would enable Toyota to capitalize on Daihatsu’s strength in small and compact cars, a key segment in emerging markets.

Not only did this figure surpass the 9.93 million vehicles sold by Volkswagen and the 9.8 million sold by General Motors, it even beat Toyota’s own forecast for 10.098 million vehicles for the year. Daihatsu shares will be delisted after July 26, they said.

Masanori Mitsui, Daihatsu President, sees the acquisition of the company he leads as an opportunity to “cement their relationship with Toyota, and to elevate the Daihatsu brand to a global standard”.

Toyota also owns a majority of truck maker Hino Motors and has minority stakes in Subaru maker Fuji Heavy Industries and truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd.

This collaboration will contribute greatly towards Toyota’s global sales numbers and will give the company an edge over, Volkswagen and the rest of its competitors.

Strong North American demand drove Toyota’s figures as total sales slipped 0.8 percent from 2014, largely owing to a slowdown in Japan where a weak economy hit demand.

“The Daihatsu brand will never disappear- let me assure you that”, Toyoda said in a statement, Bloomberg reported.

Toyota will acquire the remaining Daihatsu shares by swapping 0.26 of its own shares for each Daihatsu share, the companies said on Friday. Toyota and Suzuki denied the Nikkei report in filings with the Tokyo exchange.

Looking ahead, Toyota is reportedly considering buying out fellow Japanese auto maker Daihatsu.

Toyota’s upbeat announcement comes despite the firm struggling to recover its reputation for safety after the recall of millions of cars around the world for various problems in recent years, including an exploding air bag crisis at supplier Takata (Frankfurt: 7TK.F – news).