GM sells more cars than Toyota to regain world's top sales crown
Source: Agencies |
January 21, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GENERAL Motors Co regained its title as the world's top-selling automaker from Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp in 2011, but the US company faces a challenge to stay on top this year as Toyota rebuilds its disaster-struck business.
GM, bouncing back from bankruptcy less than three years ago, said on Thursday that it sold nearly 9.03 million vehicles globally last year, up 7.6 percent from 2010, with its Chevrolet brand setting a sales record of 4.76 million vehicles.
The Detroit-based automaker's return to the top slot comes after its 2009 taxpayer-funded bankruptcy restructuring allowed it to cut its spiraling legacy costs.
It also comes as Toyota's sales fell about 6 percent in 2011 to 7.9 million vehicles, hit by severe output cuts following an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan and deadly floods in Thailand.
The Japanese automaker is ramping up production to rebuild depleted inventory and will add output capacity in emerging markets such as China and Brazil this year. But analysts said it also faced stiffer competition as rivals step up their game.
"Toyota's biggest problem is that even without the natural disasters, its sales weren't exactly growing," JPMorgan auto analyst Kohei Takahashi said.
"The ranking is not that important, but they need a convincing strategy to boost their sales," he said, adding that Toyota was behind rivals such as Nissan Motor Co in rolling out small cars for emerging markets.
Toyota has lagged the sharper sales growth at rivals such as Nissan and Hyundai Motor Co because of a relatively slow push into emerging markets as it scrambled to meet runaway demand in mature markets in the past decade.
In a bid to catch up, Toyota is adding factories in China, Brazil, Thailand and elsewhere, aiming to sell half its cars in emerging markets by 2015, up from around 40 percent now.
Toyota's 2011 worldwide sales tally included listed subsidiaries Daihatsu Motors Co and Hino Motors Ltd, and it put the carmaker behind Volkswagen AG, which sold 8.16 million vehicles last year.
It also just trailed the 8.03 million sold by Renault SA and partner Nissan, though this number includes the 638,000 cars sold by Russia's AvtoVAZ, in which the French carmaker owns a minority 25 percent.
Excluding AvtoVAZ, Toyota remained ahead.
Toyota gave no forecast for this year for the group, but said parent-only sales may jump 20 percent to a record 8.48 million vehicles in 2012.
GM, bouncing back from bankruptcy less than three years ago, said on Thursday that it sold nearly 9.03 million vehicles globally last year, up 7.6 percent from 2010, with its Chevrolet brand setting a sales record of 4.76 million vehicles.
The Detroit-based automaker's return to the top slot comes after its 2009 taxpayer-funded bankruptcy restructuring allowed it to cut its spiraling legacy costs.
It also comes as Toyota's sales fell about 6 percent in 2011 to 7.9 million vehicles, hit by severe output cuts following an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan and deadly floods in Thailand.
The Japanese automaker is ramping up production to rebuild depleted inventory and will add output capacity in emerging markets such as China and Brazil this year. But analysts said it also faced stiffer competition as rivals step up their game.
"Toyota's biggest problem is that even without the natural disasters, its sales weren't exactly growing," JPMorgan auto analyst Kohei Takahashi said.
"The ranking is not that important, but they need a convincing strategy to boost their sales," he said, adding that Toyota was behind rivals such as Nissan Motor Co in rolling out small cars for emerging markets.
Toyota has lagged the sharper sales growth at rivals such as Nissan and Hyundai Motor Co because of a relatively slow push into emerging markets as it scrambled to meet runaway demand in mature markets in the past decade.
In a bid to catch up, Toyota is adding factories in China, Brazil, Thailand and elsewhere, aiming to sell half its cars in emerging markets by 2015, up from around 40 percent now.
Toyota's 2011 worldwide sales tally included listed subsidiaries Daihatsu Motors Co and Hino Motors Ltd, and it put the carmaker behind Volkswagen AG, which sold 8.16 million vehicles last year.
It also just trailed the 8.03 million sold by Renault SA and partner Nissan, though this number includes the 638,000 cars sold by Russia's AvtoVAZ, in which the French carmaker owns a minority 25 percent.
Excluding AvtoVAZ, Toyota remained ahead.
Toyota gave no forecast for this year for the group, but said parent-only sales may jump 20 percent to a record 8.48 million vehicles in 2012.
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