Toyota vehicle sales slip; fall behind GM

Toyota Motor Corp. slipped back into second place behind General Motors Corp. after reporting slightly lower sales for the July-September quarter than its U.S. rival. Toyota sold 2.337 million vehicles in the quarter ended on Sept. 30, the second quarter of the Japanese fiscal year, a 4 percent increase over prior-year levels but a lower figure than GM's sales reported last week of 2.38 million.

For the first nine months of the year, Toyota's sales were up 7 percent over the year-earlier period to 7.05 million vehicles, said company spokesman Paul Nolasco. That was fractionally behind GM's year-to-date sales of 7.06 million vehicles, but most analysts expect Toyota to regain the lead in coming months.

"This slip behind is temporary," said George Magliano, a New York-based analyst with consulting firm Global Insight Inc. "They've basically moved past GM and by the end of the year, they'll put some distance between themselves and GM. That's our forecast," he said. More at Detroit News