Toyota tops GM as No.1 automaker

They both have to watch out for the number 3 automaker who is coming up quick. Next up...GM

I do like GM but my fav Manufacturer is Toyota so at long last they have reached the pinnacle despite some losses in the truck market due to the housing crunch. Woooo Toyota !

Being the biggest does not mean you are the best. The bigger the business the bigger the liability exposure. I think small to medium sized businesses are more free to create. Toyota does build quality cars, but every time I have tried one, I can't stand it for some reason. They are not built for the driving enthusiast.

vw is coming in the 3rd place. They beat ford in 2008 sales.

GM, open mouth insert foot....

higher and higher percentage of German cars on the roads everyday. Inevitable that Toyota will fall to the ever rising VW. German engineered vs Japanese engineered. LOL

Now that GM is downsizing, it is likely to see VW the second in a couple of years. Will VW succeed to overpass Toyota and become no. 1? Nobody can tell. Let the best company win. Anyway, as far as I know VW/Porsche has greater market value than Toyota (if you remember it was a time last year when its value was higher than Exxon's). Anyway, no matter how subjective our opinions are, we have to admit that both Toyota and VW cars are very good ones.

I really struggle to see why anyone would buy a Toyota not 1 car in their range is what you would call exciting or a class leader from Yaris to Land cruiser there is something better to choose from in each class.

Toyota regularly trumps the reliability category and Lexus does well in owner TLC. Reliability is king with some buyers and they've risen in the safety ranks over the years to be contenders in key segments. I've never found them interesting. For me, it would be like driving a toaster.

Now GM should not worry about Toyota anymore since they are beaten already, it should worry about VW and Hyundai who could replace its second place...

VW won't exceed Toyota, the Japs are much more smarter, and Toyota's sporting heritage is superior to that of VW, all they need to do is reignite those legendary sport cars such as the Supra and Celica. The one to watch is Hyundai, they are making enormous strides and very fast, they've picked up well from the Japanese auto makers and will pose a threat to Toyota's dominance in the future.

The problem for Toyota is that sporting is only heritage and nothing else. I am curious how the Japanese company could find soon competitors for Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley or Audi S models. Kya-Hyundai has made good progress lately. However, in 2007, the Korean company was 2.4 million units behind VW. So it's still a long way for them to the top.

So GM finally learned that the world does not need Sh1tty Suburbans that break all the time.

So Toyota makes cars that aren't exciting. If excitement means a car breaks down all the time and costs you $$$ in repairs and fuel, then no, Toyota's cars would most certainly not qualify as exciting. Forgive me for this long story, but it's a clear reason why GM is on government life support. I own a 99 Camry. It's not the fastest or sportiest car I could have bought, but after ten years I still love it and have no intention of trading it in. The ride quality, interior quality, low noise levels, ergonomics, efficiency, etc., the Japanese get all the details right. There have been minor incidents, like that darn squirrel that chewed on one of my engine wires, but otherwise it has had no major problems EVER. Now, what do you get with domestic cars? Overpowered gas hogs that fall apart. Growing up, my parents always bought GM cars. Three GM cars -- all three were junk. Car 1: An '80 Buick Skylark - the floor rusted through after seven years. My old man got one more year out it by putting sheets of plywood on the floor (hey, we were poor). Car 2: an '88 GMC van. The engine block cracked after one year. GM replaced it. The second engine blew up seven years later. Car 3: Another GMC van '95 (don't ask me why). About three years in, transmission problems arose the rear differential. When we drove it, it sounded like grinding metal. The van made no less than three visits to the GMC dealer for major repair work over the next several years, each time the same problem. After failing to fix it right the third time, the dealer, a certified GMC truck specialist, explained that it was a design flaw in GM's trucks that they couldn't correct. They ended up jerry-rigging some other model's rear differential onto our truck to get it working adequately. About five years after I bought my car, my parents finally gave up on GM. So what do they drive now? Two Toyotas. Go figure.

Very well said!

i want to buy camry 2005 , but some friends advise me to not buy it , i just want to know if its good car , and what's the differnt between GLX , GLI , Junior