Toyota, Auto Sales | featured news

March is turning out to be the best month for auto sales in at least six years. Major automakers including Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, General Motors and Nissan all reported increases, with some reporting their best monthly totals since the start of the Great Recession in December of 2007.

Toyota has once again dethroned General Motors as the world's top-selling automaker. The Japanese company sold 9.7 million cars and trucks worldwide in 2012, although it's still counting. GM sold 9.29 million.

Ford's market analyst said U.S. auto sales are running at the strongest pace since April as vehicle inventories recover for Toyota and Honda.

General Motors' sales in China increased 28.8% in 2010 while U.S. sales rose just 6.3%. GM is one of the best-positioned automakers in emerging markets, even better than Toyota, says one expert. General Motors Co. sold more vehicles in China than it did in the U.S.

A strong customer demand for the vast range of Toyota has helped the company to cross the 200000 plus sales mark in the month of September. The company has been a leader in 7 categories of its vehicles and has not fell below the third place in whichever category it had participated.

Ford and GM report an increase of 43% for the month. And Honda is up 22% compared with a year ago as automakers keep pace with incentives offered by troubled Toyota.

US auto sales rose in January but were tempered by Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), which suffered a sales slide late in the month from a recall that led the auto maker to halt sales of more than half its vehicles.