Toyota has increased its lead over General Motors in third quarter

The Japanese automaker Toyota benefits from the third quarter to increase its lead over a General Motors in sales, now that its factories have recovered damages caused by the earthquake last year.

Running Toyota had 7.4 million vehicles around the world at the end of September, up 28 percent. This is 450,000 more vehicles than GM, who said he found a buyer for 6.95 million cars and trucks. GM's global sales are up 2.5 percent for the first nine months of the year.

The GM spokesman Jim Cain said the company will continue to target profitable growth.

Toyota could suffer a slowdown in the fourth quarter due to lower sales in China. Anti-Japan sentiment has surfaced in this country since Tokyo nationalized a small archipelago in the East China Sea.

This decision has given rise to violent protests in China and a boycott of Japanese goods.

Toyota sales in China plummeted to 44,100 vehicles in September, half of the 86,000 vehicles sold a year earlier. In August, China Toyota sales had declined by 15 percent.

General Motors has won the prize of best global sales last year while Toyota slipped to third behind Volkswagen, when sales of the German manufacturer jumped 12 percent.