the rix mix

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. surpassed General Motors Corp. in first-quarter sales of cars and trucks, threatening GM's 76-year reign as the world's biggest automaker.

Toyota's first-quarter sales rose 9.2 percent to a record 2.35 million vehicles, the company said today. GM's sales gained 3 percent to 2.26 million vehicles, also a record, the Detroit- based automaker said last week. GM outsold Toyota 9.1 million to 8.8 million for all of last year.

Toyota overtakes GM 50 years after exporting its first passenger car to the U.S. The Toyota City-based automaker is relying on record imports and six North American plants to gain on GM in its home market. GM, after losing $12.4 billion in the past two years, is ceding lower-margin U.S. sales to rental-car companies and cutting incentives as it tries to return to profit.

In its 76 year run, GM was outsold in a quarter only twice, both times by Ford because of strikes shutting down plants. This moment surprises no one. GM pulling out of fleet sales made it happen a bit sooner. But in this part of Jersey, our loyalty to GM ended when it shut down the Linden NJ assembly plant, & the unionized workers driving late model GM SUVs & trucks could conveniently cross Route One & apply for new jobs at Walmart. GM's done that to a lot of cities.