Toyota is the No. 1 carmaker in the world. In 2008, it sold 8.97 million vehicles to General Motors' 8.35 million, replacing G.M. in the top spot. Toyota's sales, though, in the difficult world economy, were down 4 percent from 2007.
G.M. had been the largest carmaker since 1931, two years before Toyota began making cars in Japan. Toyota had been closing in on G.M. for years; its sales surged around the world while G.M.’s global expansion was tempered by decades of falling market share in the United States.
The two had traded places from one quarter to the next in recent years. G.M. had been widely expected to slip into second place in 2007 but held off Toyota by about 3,000 vehicles.
Even though Toyota took over first place, 2008 was not the best of all possible years for the carmaker. On...
Posted in: Motor
