Toyota Motor Corp outsold Volkswagen AG for the fourth straight month in October to remain the world's top-selling automaker so far this year, after sales at the German carmaker suffered following the diesel emissions scandal.

Toyota said on Friday its group vehicle sales totalled 8.35 million in the January-October period, more than the 8.26 million vehicles delivered by Volkswagen during the same period. Toyota has continuously out sold Volkswagen on a year-to-date basis since July.

Earlier this month, Volkswagen said its Volkswagen brand sales fell 5.3 per cent year-on-year in October, the first full month after Europe's biggest automaker admitted that it cheated diesel emissions tests in some of its cars sold in the US since 2009.

Group sales at the Japanese automaker in the year through October eased 1.2 per cent from the previous year, while Volkswagen group sales for same period eased 1.7 per cent on the year. - Reuters