Business

Weakened U.S. market appeared to be the biggest battleground

July 24, 2008

Toyota outsells GM in first half

DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer

DETROIT — General Motors Corp., pummeled by falling U.S. sales and high gas prices, lost the global sales lead to Toyota Motor Corp. in the first half of this year, but the churning market makes it difficult to predict which automaker will end the year on top.

Toyota sold 4,817,941 vehicles globally during the first six months of the year, company spokesman Hideaki Homma said Wednesday, beating GM by 277,532 vehicles. Toyota said its global sales rose 2 percent from the same period the year before, while GM’s sales fell 3 percent.

It’s the second time Toyota has beaten GM in sales in the first half of the year. In 2007, Toyota outsold GM by about 50,000 vehicles, although GM eked out a win for the full year, retaining its 77-year position as the world’s largest automaker by sales.

Toyota didn’t release regional sales totals, but the weakened U.S. market appeared to be the biggest battleground. With its reputation for small, fuel-efficient cars and less exposure to the plummeting truck and SUV market, Toyota’s U.S. sales fell 6 percent, compared with a 16 percent drop for GM. Industrywide sales fell 10 percent.

“The U.S. is definitely the sore spot,” said Erich Merkle, an auto analyst with Crowe Chizek and Co., a Grand Rapids accounting and consulting company.

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