'No. 1' Toyota remains top-selling global automaker despite slump in China sales

Toyota Motor Corp. has reported that it has beaten US rival General Motors Co. as the top-selling automaker for the first half of this year, despite slump in sales in China, after General Motors held the bragging rights for seven decades till 2008.

According to The Japan Times, Japan's leading automaker sold 4.91 million cars and trucks worldwide in the January-June period, down 1.2 percent from the year before, according to numbers released Friday by Toyota.

GM reported earlier this month that it sold 4.85 million vehicles around the globe in those six months, growing almost 4 percent as it grew U.S. sales faster than Toyota, the report said.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda expressed that sales were not the only measure of excellence, and that profitability, workforce quality and productivity are also significant, the report added.