Toyota No. 1 in global sales

TOKYO — Toyota Camry, take a bow. Prius, bask in the limelight. Strong demand for those models helped propel the Japanese car maker onto the throne as the world’s largest auto seller — at least for the first quarter of 2007.

Through a shrewd combination of investing in environment-friendly vehicles, offering sharp new models and wooing drivers with brand power, Toyota has toppled GM from the top global sales spot for the first time ever, sales figured released on Tuesday show.

Whether it becomes the world’s No. 1 automaker depends on annual worldwide vehicle production, rather than sales, and final bragging rights for that won’t be decided until production numbers are tallied for the whole year.

But analysts say Toyota is advancing precisely in those areas that General Motors Corp. has fallen behind, making it likely that Toyota will snatch from GM the title it has held for 76 years.

Toyota Motor Corp. sold 2.35 million vehicles worldwide in the January-March period, surpassing the 2.26 million vehicles GM sold in the quarter, according to preliminary figures.

In 2006, Toyota’s global output rose 10 percent to 9.018 million vehicles, while GM and its affiliates produced 9.18 million vehicles worldwide — a gap of about 162,000. In the first quarter, Toyota made 2.37 million vehicles worldwide, while GM has only given a planned production number of 2.34 million vehicles.

Koji Endo, auto analyst with Credit Suisse in Tokyo, believes the trend of Toyota outdoing GM is very difficult to reverse.

“Toyota sales are booming because of its good image around the world about reliability and ecological technology,” he said. “It’s just the opposite for GM, and its image is deteriorating.”

Toyota’s fuel-efficient cars, such as the Corolla, Yaris and gas-electric hybrid Prius, are big hits because of surging gas prices.