• Detroit Free Press, Friday, January 5, 2007 12:30 PM

General Motors chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner promises to give Toyota a fight in its quest to overtake the Detroit automaker as the world's No. 1 auto company. It has held the pole position since 1931.

"We like being No. 1, and our people take pride in it, so it's not something we would sit back and let somebody just pass us by," says Wagoner. "And if one day we lose it, we'll fight to get it back."

GM sold 9.1 million vehicles globally in 2006, down from almost 9.2 million the previous year. Toyota, which sold 8.8 million cars and trucks in 2006, has said it expects to sell 9.35 million vehicles this year. Analysts say that would likely put the Japanese automaker ahead of GM--a conclusion Wagoner does not accept.

GM hasn't shared its 2007 sales forecast yet, but Wagoner says GM's foreign sales grew 6.7% last year, and he expects them to continue to rise. GM remains the sales leader in China, with a 32% surge boosting its 2006 total to greater than 800,000 vehicles.

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