Toyota Motor has retained its ranking as the world's top-selling automaker for the first six months of 2022. It is the third straight year that it has claimed the title for the period.

Toyota says it and group companies Daihatsu and Hino sold a combined 5.13 million vehicles worldwide from January to June. That is far more than closest rival Volkswagen Group's 3.87 million.

But domestic production in the six-month period for Toyota alone dropped by 18.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.27 million units.

The company had to halt operations at some of its Japanese plants due to a semiconductor shortage and parts-supply disruptions caused by coronavirus lockdowns in Shanghai.