Filed under: GM, Toyota, Earnings/Financials
Toyota outsells GM globally in Q1
Both General Motors and Toyota have released their global sales figures for the first quarter of 2008, and for those who like to keep tabs on which automaker is the biggest in the world when it comes to sales, we have new news. The last time we convened for this discussion, both GM and Toyota were in a dead heat for the title of World's Best-Selling Automaker in 2007, though GM was eventually found to have sold more by the slimmest of margins. It seems that this time Toyota has firmly taken the lead in Q1 2008, selling 2.41 million vehicles worldwide to GM's 2.25 million. The Detroit News notes that Toyota also outsold GM in Q1 2007 before GM went on to win the year outright, which just goes to show that things can change over the next nine months. GM is actually enjoying record sales outside of the U.S. in the Asia Pacific region, Europe and Latin American, Africa and the Middle East. Its own domestic market is what continues to drag down GM's numbers, with sales off 10% in the U.S. through March. Sales in the U.S. for Toyota through March were also down, but only by 4.4%. We reiterate like we always do when talk of this global sales crown comes up – it means very little in the grand scheme of things who sells more cars globally. But titles like this can be used to good effect in marketing and for bolstering an automaker's internal morale, so don't expect either one to admit they don't want the mantle of World's Best-Selling Automaker.
[Source: The Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
why not the LS2LS7? 11:41AM (4/23/2008)
The fall of the dollar can't have helped. It means every sale GM makes in NA measures up less on this scale.
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prolix21 12:02PM (4/23/2008)
I also wonder if the sheer overhead of maintaining 12 distinct brands contributes to GM's bottom line. Toyota is pretty clean in that area, just 3 I believe.
Scott 12:04PM (4/23/2008)
why is that? This is the number of vehicles sold, not the amount of revenue. 1 vehicle sold in the US is equal to 1 vehicle sold anywhere else in the world.
In any case, the title of 'largest automaker' is traditionally determined by ANNUAL sales, not those of a single quarter. So it's not over yet.
why not the LS2LS7? 1:02PM (4/23/2008)
Fair enough. That's a stupid way to measure #1 though, ignoring car value doesn't make any sense.
AZMike 1:25PM (4/23/2008)
prolix21;
you might want to check your numbers again, by looking at domestic SALES OUTLETS. GM essentially has 4: Chevrolet, Cadillac/Saab/Hummer, Ponitac/Buick/GMC, and Saturn.
compare that to Toyota's sales outlets in Japan, of which I believe there are eight, not counting Lexus. Lexus outlets in Japan have only been around since 2005, and sales have been dismal at best.
Toyota has no plans to cut the number of sales outlets in Japan (which now stand at over 1600, not including Lexus), even though their domestic auto market has negative growth.
AZMike
Will 11:44AM (4/23/2008)
A few years ago, GM owned a portion of Fuji Heavy Industries and they were #1. Now Toyota does, and they're #1. Coincidence?
(probably.)
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epilonious 11:46AM (4/23/2008)
In the meantime, Hyundai is now the new front runner for cheap, reliable transportation, Chinese imports are going to become the front-runner for cheaper, less reliable transportation... Ford and GM are Rallying around their good models, Chrysler is getting reorganized, and Toyota is wondering why a little doom cloud is floating over it's headquarters.
And soon after the exploding corolla fiasco (or some similar PR nightmare for Toyota), it will all spin around again.
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Brandon 12:09PM (4/23/2008)
Shocking anyone is buying cars with gas just going up and up and up
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Seoultrain 12:20PM (4/23/2008)
which is exactly why small car sales are rising while other categories are suffering. US companies have no viable small cars, and thus are faltering much more than the japanese.
rsfourever 12:52PM (4/23/2008)
"us companies have no viable small cars"
what are you talking about? the best selling small car, the Mazda3, is owned by an AMERICAN company (Ford), which also, by the way, sells the focus. GM is selling the cobalt and the vibe, and is now also selling the Opel astra as a saturn.
honda has 1 small car, the fit, and toyota has 2, the matrix and the yaris. i don't see how they are sell.
don't get blinded by the green images that toyota and honda have made for themselves. toyota still makes its bread and butter on the camry (not a small car by any measure) and by its SUVs. Honda has been agressively expanding in the SUV and CUV segment through Acura in recent years as well...
why not the LS2LS7? 1:04PM (4/23/2008)
Until the Fit came out, the #1 selling sub-sub-compact (there must be a name for that group) was the Chevy Aveo.
If you think there are no viable small American cars, it's because you don't even want to look.
Brandon 1:09PM (4/23/2008)
It doesn't Help that every other mount that US auto works keep going o strike there forcing the Auto makers to go over seas....................
Disgruntled Goat 3:47PM (4/23/2008)
Wow.
- The Mazda3 is not the best selling small car either in the U.S. or the world.
Ford does not "own" Mazda, they own a little less than 34% of the company.
Toyota sells the Yaris and the Corolla
Honda sells the Fit and Civic
GM sells the Daewoo Aveo, the Cobalt (bleech) and the Opel Astra, (and you could count the Toyota Vibe) none of which are even remotely competitive with Toyota's offerings (outside of the Vibe, but who wants a hatchback?).
As much as I love GM the honest truth is they aren't competitive in the small car space. They really weren't competitive in the midsized space until the new Malibu came out. Maybe if they can do to the Cobalt what they did to the Malibu they'll see their fortunes change but beyond that, good luck.
Jason 4:00PM (4/23/2008)
"what are you talking about? the best selling small car, the Mazda3, is owned by an AMERICAN company"
Ford owns 33% of Mazda, and Mazda 3's are made in Japan. Get your facts straight.
rsfourever 4:19PM (4/23/2008)
excuse me Jason, but Ford has been intimately involved in developping, engineering, marketing, and selling the mazda3, just as it has every single mazda model (bar perhaps the mx5 which is basically the miata redone). by any measure, Ford MAKES the mazda 3. just because 100% of the profit doesn't go into ford's pockets, doesn't mean that mazda is not part of the ford family of products.
why not the LS2LS7? 4:47PM (4/23/2008)
How exactly does the Cobalt get a bleech and the Corolla doesn't?
Name one redeeming cosmetic feature of the Corolla, please.
Tony 12:12PM (4/23/2008)
Toyota should be ahead by much more if the analysts actually count the numbers the way it should be. Isn't it courious that Ford sales does not include Mazda where Ford owns 33% stake. How, on earth, could these people include GM's joint venture in china where it owns just 33%.
Hino and Dhiatsu are included in Toyota numbers because they own more
than 50% stake in each.
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Calvin Azzola 12:26PM (4/23/2008)
GM owns the maximum number of shares in the joint venture allowed by Chinese law.
rsfourever 12:55PM (4/23/2008)
"Honda, Toyota and VW all operate on different structure and owns much as much as 50% or more in their various Joint ventures. "
WRONG. nobody owns more than 50% of any joint venture in China unless it is a Chinese company. By chinese law, all foreight companies MUST enter joint ventures in which they are the MINORITY partner to a chinese firm. 49% is the highest you can go.
rsfourever 1:07PM (4/23/2008)
Tony: i agree to your point as well. I'm not sure how these numbers are counted... Perhaps the companies themselves tally these numbers?