Toyota might not have announced its final tally for 2011 sales, but it’s safe to assume that GM will take the crown and remain the world’s largest automaker after reporting 9.03-million in global sales for 2011.
Last month, Toyota estimated that its 2011 annual sales would be around 7.9-million vehicles, which would make it third behind Volkswagen‘s 8.16-million global sales total.
GM’s impressive number of 9.03-million is a 7.6-percent increase from its 8.39-million figure from 2010. GM announced that it sold 2,503,820 vehicles in America and China saw 2,547,203 vehicles sold. But the announcement isn’t without controversy as GM includes the sales of its joint Chinese venture partners which is generally not a practice other manufacturers follow. For GM’s figures, they included 1,285,820 vehicles sold by SAIC-GM-Wuling, which the American auto giant does not have a controlling interest in.