Toyota v GM

GENERAL Motors is being labelled as the world’s second-largest automaker – now behind Toyota Motor Corp – after the American auto giant last week revealed that it had sold 9,369,524 vehicles in 2007. Toyota is still to issue an official total (due next month), but overseas reports this week indicate that the Japanese manufacturer finished with 9,366,418 sales. Yes, that is a paltry 3106 units behind GM, but GM’s figure includes the Chinese Wuling brand (accounting for 516,435 units) in which it holds just a 34 per cent stake. SAIC is the major shareholder with 50.1 per cent. In its breakdown of sales, GM included the following footnote: “Wuling volumes are included in China due to the combination of the market environment and GM’s equity position.”

Read more:

Winners and losers of 2007