Toyota takes top spot from GM

Toyota's sales may have fallen in 2008, but it has still overtaken General Motors as the world's largest car manufacturer over the past year.

GM has sold the most cars globally for 77 consecutive years, but slipped behind arch-rival Toyota after a turbulent 12 years.

GM announced vehicle sales of 8,350,000 in 2008, while Toyota said it sold 8,972,000 units.

Toyota, which has long been more profitable than GM, said their sales had fallen 4% globally during the year, while GM's fell by 11%.