General Motors sold 9.09 million vehicles last year

General Motors sold 9.09 million vehicles last year

World’s largest automaker General Motors sold 9.09 million cars and trucks around the world in 2006. However, reports claim that the overall global sales were down less than 1 percent from the 9.17 million vehicles sold in 2005.

The slowing American auto market is the primary reason behind this fall in sales in the global markets.

GM faces intense competition from Japanese automaker Toyota. They sold 8.8 million vehicles last year. They are likely to come a lot closer this year. Analysts believe that Toyota has the potential to overtake GM by next year.

John Middlebrook, GM vice president, Global Sales, Service and Marketing Operations spoke about these figures: “GM had some notable sales successes as we continued to expand in key growth markets around the world in 2006.”

He added: “In 2006, we saw 18 percent growth in the Asia/Pacific region, and 17 percent growth in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region. We’re also seeing improving results in Europe where we sold more than 2 million vehicles for the first time.”