GM comes close to No.1 following strong Q2

General Motors bounced back at its top slot for a brief period following a solid second quarter, mainly credited to sales in China and Latin America. The U.S. carmaker managed to outsell Japanese rival Toyota in the three months ended June 30.

According to company figures, GM sold 2.41 million vehicles globally, compared with Toyota's sales of 2.37 million in the second quarter.

However, Toyota, upheld its top position in the first six months of the year but with an impressive second quarter, GM narrowed the gap. Sales at GM were only 42,000 units short of Toyota's score of 4.72 million units for the first half, way below a difference of 90,000 units in the first quarter.

It has been all spirals downwards for GM in its home, North America which is also, the world’s largest car market. As Americans turn to more fuel efficient vehicles, Toyota enjoys a good reputation in the U.S. it has won consumers in the U.S. with its Camry and Corolla cars. On the other hand, GM reported a drop of 7% in the region in the past three months.

With Toyota grabbing the market share on its home turf, GM has turned to newer buyers in Asia and Latin America. It has already announced plans to invest $500m in Brazil and Argentina to develop smaller vehicles for the region and other emerging markets.

GM’s has managed to gain a clientele overseas. Sales in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East rose 20 percent, while in the Asia/Pacific region they went up 8 percent. Sales in Europe rose 5 percent.

"We anticipate (the U.S.) will still be the most profitable market in the decade ahead," GM's chief sales analyst, Paul Ballew said on a conference call. "It's really key not to be excessively dependent on the U.S., but you still need to be successful in the U.S." Ballew said GM should begin seeing a recovery in U.S. in 2008.

GM had retained the crown of the biggest automaker for 75-years before Toyota overtook its No.1 position in 2006, with a strong backing of American customers. Toyota expects to remain the top-seller with a forecast of 9.34 million units in 2007, compared with GM’s anticipation of 9.2 million.