It's official: Toyota outsells GM


NEW YORK (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. But it's a victory made hollow by the overall industry's continued struggle for viability amid one of its worst sales declines ever.

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.

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.

Mike DiGiovanni, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis, downplayed the significance of the drop to No. 2, saying that the automaker is focused on profitability rather than sales volume.

"I don't think being No. 1 in vehicle sales means much at all to the American consumer," DiGiovanni said in a conference call with analysts and automotive journalists. "I think what matters most to the consumer is strong brands and strong products. And the key thing right now with what the industry is going through now is viability and profitability."

DiGiovanni said all automakers are currently facing risks and challenges not seen since the Great Depression, and pointed out that even Toyota expects to post an operating loss for the current fiscal year - the Japanese automaker's first in 70 years.