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GM falls behind Toyota
By Dee-ann Durbin
Associated Press
Jul 24, 2008
DETROIT - General Motors Corp., pummeled by falling U.S. sales and high gas prices, lost the global sales lead to Toyota Motor Corp. in the first half of this year, but the churning market makes it difficult to predict which automaker will end the year on top. Toyota sold 4,817,941 vehicles globally during the first six months of the year, company spokesman Hideaki Homma said yesterday, beating GM by 277,532 vehicles. Toyota said its global sales rose 2 percent from the same period the year before, while GM's sales fell 3 percent.
It marks the second time Toyota has beaten GM in sales in the first half of a year. In 2007, Toyota outsold GM by about 50,000 vehicles, although GM managed a win for the full year, retaining its 77-year position as the world's largest automaker by sales.
Toyota did not release regional sales totals, but the weakened U.S. market appeared to be the biggest battleground. With its reputation for small, fuel-efficient cars and less exposure to the plummeting truck and SUV market, Toyota's U.S. sales fell 6 percent, compared with a 16 percent drop for GM. Industrywide sales fell 10 percent.
Outside North America, GM's sales grew 10 percent. The automaker reported advances in emerging markets such as Russia, where sales were up 34 percent in the second quarter, and China, where sales rose 14 percent. GM said that despite the tough sales environment in mature markets like the U.S. and Japan, it predicts industrywide global sales will rise 2.5 percent this year to a new record of 72 million vehicles.
Investors shared that optimism, pushing GM shares up 47 cents to $14.78. Toyota's U.S. shares fell 97 cents to $91.90.
Still, GM said its gains elsewhere had yet to make up for its losses in North America, where sales fell 20 percent in the second quarter. The automaker blamed high gas prices, which have caused a steep decline in U.S. truck and SUV sales, and a nearly three-month strike at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. that shut down much of GM's production.
Toyota's U.S. sales also took a surprising 21 percent dive in June, prompting the company to make major manufacturing changes at its U.S. plants. Toyota plans to suspend truck and SUV production for three months starting in August and will start building the Prius hybrid in the U.S. for the first time in 2010. U.S. Prius sales have fallen in recent months as Toyota has failed to keep up with demand.
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