Toyota Beats GM in Global Sales During First Half of the Year

Toyota is well under way to become the world’s undisputed number-one carmaker in global sales as the Japanese company managed to sell 4.82 million vehicles during the first half of 2008, up 2.2% from a year ago. GM on the other hand saw its sales slip by 3% to 4.53 million vehicles in the same period. For the second quarter of 2008, GM reported sales of more than 2.28 million vehicles, down 5% from 2007. While GM’s Q2 sales outside of North America grew 10% (up 116,000 vehicles), in the U.S. sales were down 20% (236,000 vehicles). Toyota’s reported Q2 sales of 2.41 million, up 1.8% from a year ago.