GM by a nose

Toyota sold 9.366 million vehicles last year globally (up 6% from 2006). Toyota had said as late as yesterday that its total was 9.37 million vehicles, but today Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco in Tokyo confirmed the extra digit in Toyota's sales, showing that GM's total (9,369,524 up 3% from 2006) was narrowly higher. So GM retains its crown as the world's #1 automaker for the 77th year in a row.

Last year, Toyota deposed Ford as the #2 auto seller in the US. Toyota sold 2.6 million vehicles for a 16% share of the market, more than double from what it sold in 1990.

GM remains the auto sales leader in the US, but its market share has dropped dramatically from about 35% in 1990 to about 24% in 2007. GM sold 3.8 million vehicles in the United States last year, down 6% from 2006, due largely to a reduction in fleet sales. Sales in the rest of the world are up 10%. It's like I wrote about Ford about 2.5 years ago. If they could just close down their US operations, they would be insanely profitable companies.