GM Loses Crown

After 77 years as the world's top automaker, General Motors officially
gave up the top rank to Toyota. With an 11% drop in sales, GM sold 8.35
million vehicles in 2008 versus 8.97 by Toyota, a drop of 4% from the
prior year. On the bright side, GM has had rising sales in some markets
outside of the U.S. The company insisted being No. 2 is fine with them.
"[Toyota] passed us in market cap, profitability and cash flow a long
time ago," GM's COO said.