Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, recently announced during a Paris parliamentary committee hearing that his company was the largest auto manufacturer worldwide when it comes to volume of sales.

Wait … what? That is a pretty bold and incredible statement; however, is there a catch?
There’s always a catch …

If you look closer at the figures, in 2017, German car company Volkswagen sold a total of 10.7 million autos, which resulted in a 4.3% increase over the last year. Meanwhile, in 2017, Renault-Nissan sold a total of 10.6 million autos. The numbers don’t lie and obviously it seems that VW did sell more vehicles last year, so what gives Ghosn the idea that his company had a bigger and better 2017, warranting the crown of largest automaker worldwide?

Ghosn stated that Renault-Nissan sold 10.6 million cars, including commercial and light private vehicles last year, whereas VW announced sales of 10.74 million autos, which includes 200,000 heavy truck; items that Renault-Nissan did not include in their figures. He’d go on to state that there is no further discussion on which car company can claim the global number one position.

The Drive recently advised that per the CEO’s logic, taking 200,000 units from Volkswagen’s 2017 total sales launches Renault-Nissan’s position into the top spot when it comes to auto sales worldwide.

While some may raise their eyebrows to the entire idea, Ghosn does have a valid point.

In 2016, Renault-Nissan hit the third place when it came to sales. VW was first with Toyota in second. Still, it’s important to note, Toyota has yet to release its worldwide sales figures for 2017; however, in December the auto manufacturer was expected to have total sales across the globe of over 10.3 million vehicles, spanning from its four various brands, which would mean it hits the third spot this year.