Japanese firm may get upper hand

Toyota Motor Corp is very close to supplanting General Motors Corp as the world's largest auto manufacturer by annual sales, but compare the two by market value and there's no contest.

Toyota's $184.1 billion value as of Wednesday's close exceeded that of GM, Ford Motor Co and Japan's eight other automakers combined, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The comparison held up even though shares of the company, based in Toyota City, Japan, had declined 39 percent since reaching a record 8,390 yen last February.

Worldwide sales at Toyota rose 6 percent last year, double GM's pace, to 9.366 million vehicles. GM said that it sold exactly 9,369,524 cars and trucks.

Regardless of which automaker prevails, Toyota may gain the upper hand this year. The company is looking for 5 percent sales growth, exceeding GM's 3.5 percent projection for the worldwide auto industry. GM doesn't release forecasts of its own sales.

David Wilson is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

(China Daily 01/25/2008 page16)