The question of who is the world’s biggest automaker now hangs in the balance after General Motors on Wednesday announced preliminary sales figures that showed it had sold 9,369,524 vehicles world-wide in 2007, up 3%.
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Toyota earlier this month announced preliminary sales of 9.37m, up 6%.
More detail is expected from the automaker later this month though it has long insisted that being the world’s number one for sales is not its top priority.
GM said it sold 2,305,752 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2007, a year on year increase of 4.8%.
“We set a record in China with more than 1m vehicles sold. We nearly doubled our sales in Russia to an all-time record of more than 258,000 vehicles delivered. And we set a record in Brazil with nearly a half-million vehicles sold,” global sales head John Middlebrook said in a statement. “This is the kind of emerging market growth that fuels our global performance.”
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By GlobalDataGM said the 2007 global tally was the second largest in its history and the third consecutive year it sold more than 9m vehicles in a calendar year.
Chevrolet brand sales – which included a substantial number of GM-Daewoo-built cars sold mainly outside North America – grew over 4% to 4.49m units. The brand boosted sales in all three regions outside North America and posted almost a 34% rise in Europe.
Chevy sales also grew 23% to 208,000 in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region while Asia Pacific region sales were up 22%.
Truck sales grew 1% to 3.8m truck sales globally, led by the Chevrolet brand with around 1.96m. GMC grew nearly 6% in 2007 to 613,000 while Chinese-made Wuling truck, mini-truck, and mini-van sales in the Asia Pacific region grew 24% to 516,000 units.
Cadillac sales rose 45% in Europe 42% in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region and 106% in Asia Pacific.
At 5.50m, 2007 sales outside the United States accounted for about 59% of GM’s total global sales. Its top three brands were Chevrolet (4.49m, up 4%), Opel/Vauxhall (1.69m vehicles, up 4%) and GMC (613,000, up 6%).
Latin America, Africa and Middle East region sales reached a record 1.23m, up 19%. Record European sales of 2.18m vehicles were up about 9%. Russia sales rose 95% to a record 250,000 units.
