General Motors remains the world’s largest automaker as a strong third quarter helped push the auto giant past Toyota in worldwide sales. Through the first nine months of the year, GM — which has been the world’s largest automaker for the past 76 years — sold 7.06 million vehicles compared to Toyota’s 7.05 million.
GM trailed Toyota by 39,000 sales after the first six month of 2007 but strong sales of the Chevrolet brand and the Opel Corsa in developing regions allowed for a 10,000 unit lead for the Detroit-based automaker after the nine month mark.
Toyota has made its intention of becoming the world’s largest automaker known, announcing a sales target of 10.4 million vehicles in 2009 — topping the industry record of 9.55 million set by GM in 1978.
Despite trailing GM is sales, Toyota far out paces GM in profits. According to the Detroit Free Press, Toyota posted second quarter earnings of $4.27 billion, compared to GM’s $891 million. A recent study also revealed that GM made $2,123 less per vehicle than Toyota did in 2006. GM is hopeful that a new four-year contract with the UAW will help the company become more profitable.
