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Toyota outsold General Motors by 90,000 vehicles in the first quarter, moving closer to unseating its American rival as the world's biggest carmaker.
The Toyota corporation has been widely expected to challenge 99-year-old GM this year for the top spot in global sales - a position the Detroit behemoth has held for 76 years - but the milestone came surprisingly early, industry watchers said.
Both companies reported record sales for January-March, but Japan's top carmaker inched past GM as it ate into the American group's market share on its home turf.
Toyota, which makes the Camry sedan - the United States' most popular car - said its global sales rose 9 per cent to 2.35 million units in the quarter.
That includes cars sold under the Lexus luxury brand and the youth-oriented Scion badge, as well as vehicles from units Daihatsu and Hino.
GM, which sells cars and trucks under a dozen brands - including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Opel and Saab - sold 2.26 million units in the quarter, a 3 per cent rise.
"Toyota has had aggressive new model introductions all over the world," said Koji Endo, an auto analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in Tokyo.
"It has achieved growth everywhere in the world, whereas GM's significant growth has only been in China." Toyota has won fans worldwide with affordable cars seen as reliable, durable and fuel-efficient, while GM continued to rely heavily on high-margin but gas-guzzling vehicles to pull it out of financial difficulties.
To keep up with soaring demand, Toyota is adding production capacity in many parts of the world, with an internal goal of taking 15 per cent of the global market by 2010.
GM estimates its share in the first quarter at 13 per cent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from a year ago.
This year, Toyota has plans to sell 9.34 million vehicles as a group, up 6 per cent from 2006. GM does not provide a global sales forecast.
But the breakneck pace of growth has presented some hiccups for Toyota with vehicle recalls at record levels.
Last year Toyota recalled more than a million vehicles in Japan and 760,000 in the US, raising concerns that the company was stretching itself too thin too fast.
After a series of high-profile recalls, including a legal probe into past recall practices, Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe vowed to step up Toyota's quality vigilance, assigning two executive vice-presidents to oversee the effort.
While sales volume is the most common measure for a carmaker's size, Toyota dwarfs its rival in almost every other measure. Its market capitalisationof US$225 billion ($300 billion) is more than 12 times that of GM.
Toyota expects to post a net profit of US$13 billion for the business year ended last month, probably more than any Japanese company, while GM is struggling to make money. It lost US$3 billion in 2006 and US$12 billion the year before.
- Reuters
