GM sales knock Toyota off top spot as largest carmaker

Chevrolet is one of GM's top brands and is helping to lead its resurgence. Photo / Supplied

General Motors sold 9.03 million vehicles last year, claiming back from Toyota the title of world's largest carmaker.

The Japanese giant has not yet released official figures, but last month projected a final result of 7.9 million units, a fall of 6 per cent, because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last March.

Another record result from Volkswagen - of 8.16 million vehicles - will knock Toyota into fourth position after the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which said it shifted 8.03 million. Sales for VW and the Alliance grew 14.3 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively last year, enabling them to further close the gap on their Detroit rival, which grew 7.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Hyundai-Kia looks likely to have edged Ford - which is yet to publish its final result - out of the top five, with sales for the ambitious South Korean group having grown more than 25 per cent to 6.53 million units.

GM's fastest-growing region was the United States, up 11.4 per cent with 2.9 million vehicles sold, followed by its "international operations" region (comprising Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East) on 7.6 per cent and 3.3 million units.

Growth for GM can be largely attributed to the success of its Chevrolet brand, which accounted for more than half its volume with a record 4.76 million sales, up 11.7 per cent.

Chevrolet not only grew in developing markets such as Peru (81 per cent), Vietnam (79 per cent), Thailand (57 per cent), South Africa (50 per cent) and Israel (46 per cent), but it also did well in its US home market, clocking up a 13 per cent sales increase in the US.

GM also achieved record sales of 2.55 million units in the Chinese market, which grew at 8.3 per cent.

GM CEO Dan Akerson has indicated the company would rather sell fewer cars at a profit than achieve volume at all costs.