Toyota biggest car maker in the world

Move over GM , Toyota is on top. The Japanese automajor has become the world’s largest carmaker. The feat breaks General Motors unbeaten record of 77 years.

The Japanese giant climbed to top position due to the strong global presence it boasts of in the current scene. According to industry observers, Toyota has managed to claim a market value of about $117 billion. This, significantly, comes at a time when te global auto markets are reeling under a financial crisis. The company even expects operating losses durng the current fiscal. Meanwhile, it has been pointed out that shares of General Motors had been on the dip during the past two years. The market capitalization stood just under $2 billion.

The Toyota feat was somewhat expected as last year it had failed to beat GM only by a handful of units sold. While GM had sold 9.369 million vehicles lasy year, Toyota managed to sold about 9.366 million vehicles.

Toyota had in fact shocked the corporate world when it plunged into losses for the first time in 71 years last year. The last time Toyota posted an operating loss was in the year ended March 1938. Reports said that the carmaker is set to register a 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) loss in the year through March.

The company, which had earlier forecast a 600-billion yen profit, was pushed into troubled times and saw its numbers plummet to deeper levels. Toyota had to even go ahead and cut contract jobs, initiate cost-cutting measures and also shelve salary hike plans. It also went ahead and postponed capacity expansion projects too.Toyota, which had set on stream its seventh North American assembly line this month, is now mulling over measures to cut production at its US and Canada factories.

Even in the US, which incidentally is Toyota’s most profitable market, saw sales fall by 34 per cent in November. Meanwhile, European markets too reported a sales drop.