• Toyota Motor reported a decrease in global production for the tenth consecutive month in November, despite a rise in worldwide sales.
• The company attributes this growth in sales to robust demand in the United States and China.
• Amid the rise of BYD and other Chinese brands, Toyota has decided to build an independent plant in Shanghai.
• Despite these challenges, Toyota saw its worldwide sales rise for a second straight month, by 1.7% to 920,569 vehicles, setting a new record for the month of November.

Toyota Motor, the world's largest automaker, has reported a decrease in global production for the tenth consecutive month in November, despite a rise in worldwide sales for the second month in a row. The Japanese carmaker attributes this growth in sales to robust demand in the United States and China.

In November, Toyota manufactured 869,230 vehicles globally, marking a 6.2% decrease from the same month last year. This fall is larger than the 0.8% dip experienced in October. The company's U.S. output was down by 11.8%, although it is slowly recovering. The production of Grand Highlander and Lexus TX SUV models resumed in late October after a four-month halt.

In China, Toyota's production dropped by 1.6%, which is an improvement from the 9% decline in the previous month. This improvement is attributed to higher local sales of its Granvia and Sienna minivan models and the electric sedan bZ3, which was jointly developed with BYD.

Global Market Trends and Challenges

Amid the rise of BYD and other Chinese brands, Toyota has decided to build an independent plant in Shanghai and start manufacturing electric cars for its Lexus luxury brand from around 2027. In Japan, which accounts for about a third of Toyota's global output, production was down 9.3% in November. This was partly due to a two-day production halt at its Fujimatsu and Yoshiwara plants.

Despite these challenges, Toyota saw its worldwide sales rise for a second straight month, by 1.7% to 920,569 vehicles, setting a new record for the month of November. However, for the January-to-November period, Toyota's global output was 5.2% lower than the same period last year at around 8.75 million vehicles, while global sales were down 1.2%.

In the tech sector, Santa Clara County prosecutors have charged six former employees of tech giant Apple with defrauding the company's gift-matching programme for charitable donations, obtaining approximately $152,000. The employees allegedly manipulated charity donations, leading to multiple felony charges, such as grand theft, conspiracy to commit felony grand theft, perjury, and tax fraud.

Sector-Wise Developments and Future Outlook

In the ride-hailing industry, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma praised India's new-age tech firms for creating jobs. In a post, Sharma added a video showing an Uber driver claiming he earns ₹80,000 as proof.

In the aviation sector, Tata Group-owned aircraft carrier Air India's Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson, while talking about delays in aircraft maker Boeing's pipeline, said that there is a delay in getting all "50 white-tail aircraft," which were expected to join the fleet early December this year.

In the food and grocery delivery sector, Zomato has raised ₹8,500 crore through its qualified institutional placement (QIP), allocating 33.64 crore shares at ₹252.62 apiece. The proceeds are expected to be used to expand its quick commerce arm, Blinkit, at a time when the sector is witnessing surge in demand, with rivals Swiggy and Zepto simultaneously bulking up their cash reserves to stay in the competition.