FWIW, those JD Power dependability studies are US only.
Looking at individual manufacturers, Toyota indeed tops US sales as of the most recent
data I could find which encompasses the 1st half of '25. Ford is a close second.
Volkswagen US sales, however, are in a completely different tier than Toyota. (Just like their JD Power US dependability ranking). They are ranked 15th, with sales down 13% from 1H '24.
Note, if you aggregate individual manufacturers sales by parent corp GM leads Toyota Corp. in US sales.
Toyota, for a long time, rode on cheap gas prices. There is nothing wrong with it, it is business. Offer absolutely obsolete engines, and there you go. The customer base that they aim for does not care about it. I, for example, bought Sequoia 5.7 V8 because. two reasons: 1. 3 kids, family hauler. 2. Off-road capability. It is probably the most inefficient V8; somehow, they made it too heavy, but the doors are flimsy like on Corolla, etc. But it serves that purpose when we travel somewhere, to national parks, or when I need it once a week for something. Big trunk helps with skiing trips with kids; otherwise, BMW does everything every day: kids drop-offs, skiing, work, groceries. Is it what you try to represent here when it comes to reliability? No it is not. It has enough known issues to make you pay attention to various things. Did I buy it with the notion that I will just change oil and buy gas? No, I had close to 50 cars in my life. None was maintenance-free. All require attention.
In the rest of the world, things are more complicated. Toyota could not offer the 3.5 V6 in all vehicles in Europe or the 2.5. 2.5 alone is too big for the average European customer. They had to offer diesels, and that did not go well (and that is huge understatement). Pistons were breaking, rod bearings were failing. As usual, Toyota turned to BMW for engines, and they used their diesels until Volkswagen's dieselgate scandal made diesel the enemy number one. Then they shifted to hybrid, which is selling kind of OK, as others are offering the same thing (for example, VW offers in the EU the hybrid Tiguan and not here. Go figure), so there is huge competition.
They never brought V8 diesel here, although LC and Sequoia would be perfect candidates for that engine. Why? Complexity, reliability etc. It would damage the cult that is going on, for a hypothetical uptick in sales. 3.0 D-4D (I have that engine in Prado in Europe) is far from an example of reliability. Compared to BMW M57 I had in several cars, it is far from it. It would be good in GX 460 for example, but again, it had classic modern diesel issues (numerous EGR failures, EGR cooler failures, some CR pumps were problematic, and SCR is (un)reliable as in any other diesel). So, while enthusiasts, especially off-road ones, would appreciate 3.0 in the 4Runner, for example, it would destroy that cult status.
However, CAFE made things more complicated, hence 3.4TT, the Corolla with the self-igniting 3-cylinder, and 2.4 (which seems okay for now). Toyota is in the business of making money. But it was not some uber quality that made them more reliable. It was the obsolescence of engines that made them reliable. BMW could bring back M54 or N52, and voila, you have uber reliable engine, etc., etc.
And that is OK. Toyota went that route; others went a different route. Subaru is probably one that went hardest with "let us offer the most boring vehicle you can buy," than going with a marketing campaign that goes along the lines: "if you don't buy Subaru, your family will die in horrible death and you will watch it happen." But, it is business. Not a cult, at least for some.
