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GM Hangs On as No. 1 Automaker

Edges out Toyota in 2007; China the battleground for 2008

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 23, 2008

The U.S. auto giant has now held on to the number one spot in the worldwide auto industry for 77 years.

GM reported global sales rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 9,369,524 vehicles, driven by strong growth in regions outside North America.

Toyota, which was expected to have surpassed GM as the world's largest automaker this year by some analysts, reported sales of 9.37 vehicles in 2007. In response to the GM announcement however, Toyota disclosed 2007 sales at about 9.366 million, just short of GM.

GM reported 2007 results were the second best global sales total in the company's 100-year history. 2007 also marked the third consecutive year for GM with more than 9 million vehicles sold.

"We set a record in China with more than a million vehicles sold. We nearly doubled our sales in Russia to an all-time record of more than 258,000 vehicles delivered. And we set a record in Brazil with nearly a half-million vehicles sold," John Middlebrook, GM vice president of global sales, service and marketing, said in a prepared statement.

Since 1998, GM's global sales have grown at an average annual rate of about 1.5 percent, while the Toyota growth rate has been substantially higher.

GM's sales in North America dropped 6.1 percent in 2007 as sales in the Asia Pacific region rose 15.1 percent led by China. GM sales in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East rose 19.4 percent. Sales in Europe rose 8.9 percent.

Mike DiGiovanni, GM's executive director of global product planning, described the 2008 sales race with Toyota as too close to call. "It's impossible to say. We're just trying to put our nose down and do a good job of serving our customers," he said.

"We think we're doing the right things to remain number 1 and we're in it for the long run," DiGiovanni said.

GM leaders remain optimistic that the U.S. will experience growth in the second half of the year. That, combined with the Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, the suggest, should help the country to avoid a recession. GM however, would not release a U.S. sales forecast for 2008.

While many industry forecasters predicted Toyota would overtake GM in 2007 or 2008, executives of the Japanese automaker have downplayed the importance of the milestone.

Toyota outsold GM in the first quarter of 2007, but GM recovered to surpass Toyota in the second and third quarter.

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