Date: 04-25-2008
Toyota Motor Corp. has edged out General Motors by 159,000 worldwide vehicle sales, according to first quarter sales reports, as US sales for both companies took a beating. Toyota has been gaining ground in emerging markets, and analysts believe that the company will present a stiff challenge to GM’s 77-year reign as the world’s leading automaker in the near future. Toyota registered a 2.7% gain in sales in the three months ending in March, while GM’s sales showed a slight fall of about 1%. GM said that the slowdown in the US market had led to the decline in sales for the first quarter. “The fundamentals are in place for a second-half recovery,” G.M.’s chief sales analyst, Michael DiGiovanni, said. “We’re starting to see the positive signs that we thought we would see.”
