October 07, 2008

Toyota overtakes GM as top automaker in the world

Toyota Motor has taken the first quarter global automotive sales lead from General Motors, selling 2.41 million vehicles to GM’s 2.25 million over the first three months of the year.

GM said that its first quarter sales dropped across the globe by less than 1%, but Toyota said its sales were up 2.7% during the January to March 2008 period.

GM barely won the global sales race with Japan based Toyota last year. Toyota overtook General Motors as the world’s top automaker in global vehicle production last year. A record 64% of GM’s sales came from outside the United States.

GM in a statement said that strong demand in Europe supported Toyota’s world wide sales. GM posted record sales in three of its four regions, but a 10% drop in North America pulled down the overall numbers. Sales were up 8% outside of North America.

Mr John Middlebrook vice president of global sales of GM in a statement said that “While the challenges of the US economy continue to put pressure on the automotive industry there, we saw nearly 20% growth in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East and 6% growth in the Asia Pacific region.”