General Motors Takes Over from Toyota as World's Largest Automaker

General MotorsGMUnited States of America, 1998 > present8 models
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has retaken the title as the world's largest automaker through the second quarter of 2013, and Toyota has slipped to second place. It is the first time in six quarters that ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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has lost its top position, and it is mostly attributable to sliding sales in Japan and slow growth in China. 

GM's lead is not exactly commanding. Toyota sold 2.48 million cars in Q2 of 2013, and GM sold 2.49 million cars. 

Toyota sales are still going well, but sales in Japan were down 8.4% during Q2. The fall is not entirely Toyota's fault. Japan auto sales have been falling slowly for the last decade. Even competitor Honda saw sales fall 14.6% in the first half of the year. The falling sales in Japan are blamed on the aging population who do not need cars and the country's robust public transportation system.

Toyota's other problem might be that it is Japanese, at least for the Chinese market. A territorial dispute between China and Japan last year flattened Japanese car sales in China, and it still is. Toyota sales grew by 0.6% in China in the second quarter. In comparison, GM grew by 12%, and VW grew by 16% in the same period. It means that for the time being Toyota has to get its growth elsewhere to keep up with the world's two other major automakers.

From January to June, Toyota still leads world out sales with 4.91 million cars sold. GM is in second place with 4.85 million cars sold, and VolkswagenVolkswagenGermany, 1938 > present98 models
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is in third place with 4.7 million cars sold.

Toyota and Volkswagen are both predicting that they will sell 10 million cars by the end of the year. It will be the first time in history that any automaker has sold so many cars.

While GM has not released estimates it has 18 new or refreshed cars ready for North America this fall, and a refreshed Opel Insignia due for Europe. It will likely have sales around 10 million cars by the end of the year as well.

Source: Automotive News