GM likely to recapture global lead in auto sales

Associated Press

DETROIT

General Motors Co. is on track to retake the title of world’s top-selling automaker, riding strong sales in the U.S. and China to beat Volkswagen and Toyota.

GM, which lost the crown to Toyota in 2008 after holding it for more than seven decades, won’t release global sales numbers until later this month, but it’s on pace to finish 2011 at around 9 million cars and trucks, at least 800,000 more than its German and Japanese rivals.

Winning the global sales crown doesn’t mean much to a company’s bottom line, but for GM, it’s an example of just how far the company has come since it nearly collapsed in financial ruin back in 2009. That year, the company sold only 7.5 million vehicles. GM executives have consistently said they’re more focused on making money than outselling Toyota or Volkswagen. But it does boost employee morale and gives bragging rights to the winner.

Volkswagen AG on Monday said it sold a record 8.156 million vehicles last year, a 14 percent rise over 2010. The company expects a tough 2012, though. Toyota, whose production suffered from the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster, earlier had reported sales of 7.9 million vehicles in 2011.

GM sold almost 7 million vehicles worldwide in the first three quarters and is expected to reach around 9 million for 2011.

At GM, the company’s recent new products are far more appealing than the company’s offerings in past years when Toyota took the crown away, says Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, an industry consulting company in Troy, Mich.

Other manufacturers have passed Toyota partly because its car production was paralyzed by Japan’s earthquake and nuclear disaster last year. But rivals also developed stylish vehicles that are drawing more customers.

Volkswagen met its aggressive sales goals in the U.S. and the world, and its products also have made it a strong global competitor, Schuster says.

In the U.S., VW sales rose 26 percent last year to top 324,000 vehicles, boosted by a new Jetta compact sedan and the Passat midsize sedan. That surpassed its goal of 300,000.

Schuster expects a tighter race for the global sales crown next year with Toyota recovering from Japan’s disasters and the Nissan-Renault venture challenging the leaders.