Toyota on track to overtake GM

Toyota Motor Corp.’s global production rose 3.8 percent in September, putting the company on track to overtake General Motors as the world’s biggest automaker. It was the company’s 23rd consecutive monthly advance.

Surging oil prices have prompted drivers to favor fuel-efficient cars, including the Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and the midsize Camry, the best-selling model on the U.S. market for eight of the last nine years.

Toyota’s total output last month came to 696,594 vehicles, the company reported Tuesday. Overseas production climbed 2.8 percent to 340,945 units, while domestic output rose 4.7 percent to 355,649 vehicles.

Earlier this month, the first hybrid version of the Toyota Camry made outside Japan rolled off the assembly line of its Kentucky plant, positioning the Japanese automaker to take an even larger share of the gasoline-electric vehicle market in the United States.

Hybrid cars get better mileage than regular gasoline-powered cars because they switch between a standard gasoline engine and an electric motor.

GM in 2005 sold 9.2 million vehicles globally and produced 9.05 million vehicles, compared to Toyota’s sales of 8.13 million for that year. The Japanese automaker surpassed Ford Motor Co. in terms of vehicle sales in 2003.

Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s second-largest automaker, said its global vehicle production fell for a ninth month in September, dropping to 12.5 percent to 274,788 vehicles.

Tokyo-based Nissan said its output in the U.S. fell 18.9 percent last month from a year ago to 60,600 units, largely due to the changeover of the new 2007 Altima model.

Honda Motor Co.’s global production rose 5.0 percent to 318,946 vehicles, in its 14th monthly rise. Overseas production climbed 6.6 percent to 199,932 units, boosted by an all-time monthly record in both North America and the rest of Asia.

“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pledged Tuesday to revive sales growth in the coming holiday season after an unexpectedly weak October and said a barrage of criticism from union-backed groups was not driving away shoppers.

Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott also told analysts and investors the company will not exit Japan, one of its largest foreign markets, after selling money-losing stores in Germany and South Korea.

Scott said October sales at stores opened at least one year were not acceptable. Wal-Mart told investors Monday that same-store sales this month were growing about 1 percent, short of its forecast of 2 percent to 4 percent.