Toyota retained the world's largest carmaker title for the second straight year. They sold 9.98 million units last year, beating out GM and VW. Deliveries came from subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor, rose 2.4 percent in 2013 to 9.98 million units. General Motors announced 9.71 million sales, while VW preliminary estimates are of over 9.7 million units.

The automaker says that they will break the 10 million sales barrier this year, forecasting deliveries of over 10,32 million units. But they'll have to be on their tippy toes, because GM and VW are narrowing the gap.

VW wants to become the world’s No. 1 carmaker by 2018 and has announced plans to spend more than $7 billion during the next five years in North America alone. The carmaker wants the VW and Audi brands to sell 1 million vehicles in the region by 2018.

Will Toyota be able to reign longer?