Toyota Beats GM For First Time

(AP)  Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. sold more cars and trucks last year than General Motors Corp., stripping the Detroit automaker of the No. 1 global sales crown for the first time in 78 years.

GM said Wednesday it sold 8,355,947 cars and trucks around the world in 2008, falling about 616,000 vehicles short of the 8.972 million Toyota announced Tuesday.

GM, which posted an 11 percent drop in global sales for the year, blamed the decline on the steep drop in vehicle demand in its key North American and European markets.

North American sales dropped 21 percent for the year. GM Europe sales fell 6.5 percent, including a 21 percent plunge in the fourth quarter.

Toyota's sales fell 4 percent for the year, marking that automaker's first global sales decline in 10 years.

Toyota's move into the top sales spot wasn't a huge surprise. The automaker nearly topped GM in 2007, selling only about 3,000 less vehicles than the U.S. company did that year.

GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson told a group of industry insiders Tuesday night that it's not a big deal if GM is passed by Toyota Motor Corp. as the global sales leader.

"To me the most important thing to make GM successful," he told the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. Any time spent on worrying about being passed by Toyota is "time wasted," he said.

GM, which received a $13.4 billion lifeline from the federal government last month, has been closing plants and laying off workers to cut production as it faces the worst U.S. auto market in more than 25 years.

GM shares fell 22 cents, or 6.3 percent, to $3.28 in morning trading, while Toyota's U.S. shares rose 38 cents to $66.28.

[benfrenchnyc]

Test 2.

[benfrenchnyc]

Test.

[mytoosense]

Eiji Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Motors hung out at Ford Motor Company Rouge Plant during the 1950''s to study American Manufacturing Methods.

Looks like he took good notes.

[anillafield]

Some simple facts that can easily be checked.

1) The D3 no longer have the technology to make really powerful engines. They make the huge V8s to compensate for the lack of power. The power to engine size ratios of the D3 engines averages out to 1 hp/cu in. IOW, the 426 Hemi V8 outputs 426 real hp.

2) The foreign engines with their advanced technologies easily output much more power. The power to engine size ratios of the foreign engines avearages out to 1.7 hp/cu in. IOW, the 3.5 liter (214 cu in) DOHC aluminum V6 outputs 364 real hp.

Of course, the manufacturers claim higher hp outputs, but when actually measured they rarely produce the power claimed.

[daffy64]

I would like to see a Toyota or Honda try to pull a trailer full of cattle and horses up and down the steep hills of Montana and Wyoming. It''''''''s not going to happen; There''''''''s no replacement for the Raw Power of the Big-3.

---

And I''d like to see Detroit make a fuel efficient car that DOESN''T fall apart in five years.

[progress4m]

Mtnbill,

Time went on and Detroit stayed frozen for past 40 years%u2026.
Toyota Tundra with 5.7L V8 will pull your truck with trailer full of cattle and horses attached to it through any maintains (pay attention to the torque and torque curve of Tundra%u2019s 5.7 L V8).
It will do it easier and for a lot longer that anything made Detroit.

[presjfk]

"Maybe GM will learn something from Toyota. Posted by win4usa"

GM has had a long, long time to heed their competitors and have learned nothing. They never will.

[win4usa]

Maybe GM will learn something from Toyota.

[biblethumpar]

mtnbill , id like to see the big 3 make something worth buying...

[parisdakar]

Until the unions are gone, I doubt anything will change.