GM loses top spot to Toyota in first-quarter global sales

AFP, April, 2008

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — General Motors Corp. lost the top spot in global sales to Japanese rival Toyota Motors Wednesday when the US automaker reported a slight dip in first-quarter sales because of weakness in its home market.

But GM officials refused to concede that they would lose the race for the year after having narrowly held onto their 76-year title of world's largest automaker by sales by a margin of just a few thousand vehicles in 2007.

"We were also behind Toyota in the first quarter last year," Michael DiGiovanni, GM's director of industry and market analysis, said in a conference call.

GM's January-through-March sales slipped 0.6 percent to 2.25 million vehicles while Toyota's sales hit 2.41 million despite a 4.2-percent drop in Japanese sales....