GM´s sales fall, ending claim as world´s largest auto maker

ERJ staff report (AN)

Detroit, Michigan -- General Motors Corp. said worldwide sales fell 10.8 percent in 2008, ending its 77-year claim as the world's largest auto maker.

GM sold 8.36 million vehicles last year, putting it about 616 000 units behind the 8.97 million reported by Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday.

The 2008 results cap an advance by Toyota that has seen the Japanese auto maker overcome a 3 million deficit since the start of the decade, fueled by gains in the United States. In 2008, both auto makers posted sales declines.

At the time of the announcement, GM defined itself on its Web site as "the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years."

GM President Fritz Henderson had said the previous evening that retaining the title wasn´t "terribly important," to him. He told the Automotive News World Congress that it´s more critical that GM, which hasn´t posted a profit since 2004 and has tapped $4 billion in US loans to pay its bills, is strong financially.

Toyota´s decline

Toyota said its sales across the group fell 4 percent in 2008, dragged down by sharp declines in North America, Europe and Japan.

GM fell 21.1 percent in North America, the biggest of its four sales regions, and 6.5 percent in its No. 2 market, Europe.

The company gained 3.2 percent in its Latin America, Africa, Middle East region -- for a fifth straight record -- and 2.7 percent in the Asia-Pacific territory.

Car sales worldwide plunged in the final quarter amid a financial crisis that forced most auto makers to slash production. GM´s fourth quarter sales volume dropped 26.2 percent.

In the U.S., the single-biggest market for both auto makers, GM tumbled 22.7 percent last year, while Toyota was down 15.4 percent.

As of 2007, Automotive News ranked Toyota No. 1 in worldwide sales. In that year, GM included 516,435 Wuling brand vehicles in its global tally. But GM owns only 34 percent of the Chinese company that builds Wuling products, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. owns 50.1 percent.

Automotive News counts only sales of majority-owned subsidiaries in an automaker´s global total.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)

Website