General Motors Corp. said its global sales fell 5 percent in the second quarter of the year, sapped by a steep decline in U.S. sales, even as Toyota Motor Corp. widened its lead in its race to lead worldwide sales for the first time.

GM said it sold more than 2.28 million vehicles worldwide in the quarter, thanks in part to a total overseas increase in sales of 116,000 vehicles, or 10 percent. Several GM brands posted strong overseas growth: Cadillac was up 14 percent, while Chevrolet was up 19 percent on strong growth in emerging markets.

GM said it sold 4.54 million vehicles in the first half of 2008, a 3 percent decline over the first six months of 2007. GM's North American sales are down 15.3 percent through the first half of the year.

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Toyota said it sold 4.8 million vehicles in the first half of the year. The company sold 2.406 million vehicles in the three months ended June 30, compared with 2.36 million in the first quarter of 2007 -- a 2 percent increase.

Toyota had a 160,000-vehicle lead on GM after the first quarter -- a lead that is now about 260,000 vehicles after the first half of the year.

GM said the U.S. market in July was continuing to be "challenging."

"Early indications are it's going to be another challenging month," said Mike DiGivoanni, GM's executive director of global markets and industry analysis.

Toyota said its U.S. sales fell 7 percent in the first half of the year, but it made up for that with strong growth in emerging markets.

GM said it predicts that the worldwide auto industry market would be about 72 million vehicles, up 2.5 percent over last year amid strong growth in the so-called "BRIC countries" -- Brazil, Russia, India and China.

GM barely topped Toyota in 2007 -- by 3,100 vehicles -- to retain its title as worldwide auto sales leader for the 77th straight year.

 

They should drop quantity as the goal, get back to the quality they had before going after GM numbers wise.

 

I just saw on the news that Ford lost 8.4 billion because of its poor truck and suv sales. Theres American car company blood in the water. I cant believe the distance the japanese have come in my lifetime. I remeber when when a toyota, honda, nissan was a joke and everyone wanted a fleetwood cadillac or Benz. In less than 2 decades the japanese have turned the american car companies on their ears and have smacked the germans down. Thats why my generation (X) and the younger (Y) are buying imports. I think its great. I cant stand american cars, GM , Ford, , or chrysler. They have been ripping their customers off for decades. You reap what you sow . They planted crap. Every time I get into an american car I find myself asking, why is it we are the greatest country in the world an this is what our auto companies are putting out . All the engineering knowledge, know how, and this is all we get?????? Its a freakn shame

 

GM would be out long time ago if they didnt buy Daewoo 3-4 years ago... It masked their fall for few years.

 

I can't imagine anyone actually surprised by Toyota overtaking GM as top car maker. GM is finally feeling the effects of making poorly designed, poor quality
cars. Ahh, too bad . Now that they've had a spanking, perhaps they can get off their duffs and do something about it! It really would'nt be that hard to make great cars if they really wanted to. They just need to try harder then they have been for the last 10 years.

 

Ok honestly...when did or didn't Toyota overtake GM? I swear in 2006 and 2007 we saw headlines, "Toyota overtakes GM for worlds top spot" and headlines like that. Then now in 2008 it's talking about how they could overtake GM for the first time? Wtf? Did the first two not count?

 

Agreed, if they don't watch their quality they will be going down the same path that GM and Ford are currently on.