Toyota Motor Corp indicated yesterday its sales for last year were a notch below General Motors Corp (GM), which had been widely expected to lose its crown as the world's top-selling automaker after 76 years.
But even if history was not made last year, analysts said the dynamic in the sector remained the same, with Japanese automakers racing ahead while the Detroit Big Three try to revive their fortunes.
Toyota said its latest estimation was that it sold 9.366 million vehicles last year, only around 3,500 vehicles fewer than GM, which on Wednesday reported global sales of 9,369,524.
Toyota does not give exact sales figures. Earlier this month, it had estimated global sales of 9.370 million last year, leading many industry watchers to conclude it had finally surpassed GM.
The results did not surprise analysts, who saw the slim difference as a sign that Toyota would replace GM as the top seller this year.
"This year there is a high possibility that the two will reverse positions. In 2007, GM barely escaped, but I think such a situation would be difficult in 2008," said Kazuhito Sasaki, auto analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities.
Japan's top automaker, the pioneer of eco-friendly hybrids, has grown rapidly on its popularity in the US and has been careful not to gloat about its success, fearing a protectionist backlash.
Detroit-based GM on Wednesday said that the hard-fought race with Toyota was too close to call.
GM has been the world's largest best-selling automaker since 1931.
GM sales chief analyst Mike DiGiovanni said the US automaker is already reaping the benefits of its massive restructuring plan with a renewed focus on long-term profitability rather than its total sales figure.
The US giant now relies on overseas sales for most of its business and has become the first global automaker to sell more than 1 million vehicles in China.
But analysts noted that while GM sales grew 3 percent last year, Toyota's shot up by 6 percent.
"Putting numbers aside, what is important is that the impetus between the two is different," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, an auto analyst at Okasan Securities.
"Although GM is increasing sales in emerging markets, looking at overall global sales Toyota clearly has the upperhand in terms of impetus. That is an undeniable fact," he said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2