I heard on the news this week that in the first quarter of '07 toyota has finally won the crown of World's Biggest Car Company.
It pipped GM by about 50,000 units or so....
I could see this happening. For some reason GM, here (in OZ) in europe and in the states, keep putting out inferior products with little apparent foresight. In australia they rely on a large V6 (Commodore that now costs a fortune to run, high fuel bill), a couple of korean snipboxes (Barina, Viva - daewoo knockoffs), the european astra which has a chequered reliability record, and a new mid-size that is also a korean knock-off.
In the US GM seems to rely on SUVs and pickups, and from what I have read the passenger car range isn't up to scratch when compared with japanese running costs and reliability.
It also seems that Toyota, like other Japanese car companies, don't really make any big mistakes financially or technologically. I predict that by 2020-2030 ford, chrysler and GM will play second fiddle to the new Big 3 - Mazda, Honda and Toyota.
Just my 2 bob....