The seesaw battle between General Motors and Toyota for global sales leadership just tipped in Toyota’s direction again, reports Forbes. Figures from the company show Toyota sold 2.49 million vehicles in the first quarter, putting it ahead of GM with 2.28 million. Germany’s Volkswagen ranks third, with 2.16 million. Toyota had grabbed the top-selling title in 2008, but lost it to GM for 2010. Now, Toyota is picking up sales and market share in the United States, particularly through sales of the newest Camry and new Prius models, while GM is giving up some of the market share gains that boosted it into the top spot. It’s likely that the title will be changing hands frequently as Toyota, Volkswagen, and GM introduce new vehicles. Volkswagen, in particular, is on an aggressive sales push, aiming to sell 10 million vehicles world wide by 2018. Meanwhile, Toyota said Tuesday it has sold 4 million hybrid-electric vehicles around the world, since it put its first hybrid Prius on sale in Japan in 1997. Of those hybrids, 1.5 million have been sold in the United States.
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