The Volkswagen Group is in pole position when it comes to stealing the world’s largest carmaker crown from Toyota.

According to AutomotiveNewsEurope, the Germans have already taken an important step into this direction, as the entire Group’s sales sit at 7.61 million cars globally, from January to September, a 2.4 percent increase over 2015. During the first none months, Toyota Motor managed to deliver ‘just’ 7.53 million vehicles worldwide, up 0.4 percent over the same period last year.

Both automotive giants bet on their overseas markets when it comes to either maintaining or stealing the global sales lead, and while Volkswagen cannot match Toyota’s sales in the United States, the Japanese brand’s deliveries in China, which remains the largest market in the world, are topped 3-to-1 by the Germans.

Pulled by theincreased SUV demand and the success of the Audi, Skoda, and Porsche brands, the Volkswagen Group’s potential success in topping Toyota Motor comes despite of the massive cheating emissions scandal, which has not only made it bleed money over fines, repairs and buybacks, but it also lose customers in some global markets.

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