Toyota Vs. GM, Round Three: ToMoCo Built More Cars

by Robert Farago

Published: January 28th, 2008

toyota vs gm round three tomoco built more cars

In round one, GM retained its crown as the world's largest automaker by cheating; counting vehicles it produces as a minority partner in a Chinese venture. In round two, GM beat Toyota for customer loyalty in a Polk Automotive survey; whose details the "we work for all the major automakers" company didn't want to discuss with TTAC (we'll keep trying). Now, in round three, we learn that Toyota may not have sold as many cars as GM in '07 (if you count the spurious Chinese models), but ToMoCo built more. The AP reports "Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it had made a record 9,497,754 vehicles worldwide in 2007, up 5.3 percent from the previous year. That's about 213,000 more automobiles than the 9.284 million that GM made last year." Is this a case of The Emperor Strikes Back? Toyota brass say no. "Toyota's earlier, less precise production estimate for 2007 was 9.51 million. Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco in Tokyo said there was no special reason for the change from the estimate." Other than what, accuracy? It looks like the numbers rivalry between the two automaking giants is the story that wouldn't die. At least here at TTAC.