GM Trumps VW & Toyota As World’s Top 2011 Automaker (GM, TM, F)

Just two years after emerging from bankruptcy protection and taking a $50 billion bailout package from the federal government, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is once again leading the world in total automobile sales. The company’s sales rose 7.6% in 2011 to 9.03 million units, which represents nearly 12% of the total global market.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has said it expects to report total 2011 sales of 7.9 million units, a drop of about -6% from 2010. Toyota’s sales were hit hard by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last March. The Japanese car maker will actually finish in third place, behind Germany’s Volkswagen AG, which had sales of 8.2 million units. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 5.3 million units in 2011, a gain of nearly 7% over 2010 sales.

GM and its joint venture partners sold 2.55 million units in China, while the company’s US sales totaled 2.5 million. Sales of the company’s Chevrolet branded cars and light trucks totaled 4.76 million units worldwide, of which 1.78 million were sold in the US and nearly 600,000 units in China.

Toyota’s 2012 sales are expected to pick up again as the company has worked through most of the supply problems it faced following last year’s disaster. The company could sell as many as 8.6 million units this year. Volkswagen faces a stiff challenge to growth given the expected weakness in the European market. GM’s Opel division could face some of the same challenges, but GM’s growth is likely to continue in 2012.

GM’s shares are up about 1.25% at $24.82, in a 52-week range of $19.00-$38.95.

Paul Ausick