UPDATE: Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance Outsells VW Group

Volkswagen AG has been surpassed as the world’s top seller of passenger vehicles by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.

The three-way alliance posted combined car and light truck sales of 10.61 million units in 2017 compared with 10.53 million for VW Group’s car and light commercial vehicle operations. Third-place Toyota sold 10.2 million passenger vehicles last year, according to company data.

But VW retains leadership as the world’s largest maker of vehicles overall. When sales of its heavy-duty truck units—Scania and MAN—are included, the company’s sales totaled 10.74 million vehicles in 2017.

Carlos Ghosn, who heads the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, is convinced that size matters. Renault acquired controlling stakes of 42% in Nissan in 1999 and 34% in MMC in 2016.

Ghosn has predicted that continued efforts to share parts, platforms and purchasing operations will enable the three companies to double their combined cost savings to develop and build vehicles to €10 billion ($12.4 billion) by 2022. He estimates the alliance will be selling about 14 million passenger vehicles per year by then.​​​​​