NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- General Motors Co. said Thursday its global new vehicle sales in the January to June period rose 8.9 percent from a year earlier to 4.54 million units, surpassing the 3.72 million units sold by Toyota Motor Corp. in the period.
GM reclaimed the first-half global lead from Toyota for the first time in five years.
Toyota fell to third place in the rankings for the half-year period, also overtaken by Volkswagen AG, which sold 4.13 million units.
GM filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009. But the sales data show that its reconstruction efforts have since produced fruit.
Toyota has taken serious blows from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which forced it to cut back on its global production due to disruptions of its component supply chains.
