Toyota sold more vehicles than General Motors last year

Japanese auto giant Toyota has sold more cars and trucks than General Motors last year, withdrawing the manufacturer to Detroit as a vendor number in the world he held for 78 years.

GM announced Wednesday it had sold 8 355 947 cars and trucks worldwide in 2008, 616,000 vehicles less than the total released yesterday by Toyota.

GM, whose annual global sales down 11 percent, attributed the situation to the pronounced fall in demand for vehicles in its key markets in North America and Europe.

The North-American sales have shrunk by 21 percent last year. Those of GM Europe fell by 6.5 percent, including a 21 percent slide in the fourth quarter.

Toyota sales were down four per cent in 2008, this being the first decline in global sales builder 10 years.

The accession of Toyota at the forefront of sales rank does not want a big surprise. The builder had almost surpasses GM in 2007, he had elapsed that some 3,000 vehicles less than its American competitor.

The Chief Operating Officer of GM, Fritz Henderson, said Wednesday a group of observers of the industry does not make much of the fact that Toyota has a business American steals the title of number one seller of vehicles in world.

"To me, the most important thing is to ensure that GM has the success," he has said in the context of the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.

Henderson believes that be concerned of having been ahead by Toyota was a "waste of time".

GM, which has received the U.S. government a sum of U.S. $ 13.4 billion to