General Motors set to reclaim top spot from Toyota

Helped by production cutbacks at world's top automaker Toyota, US auto giant General Motors may regain its status as the world´s top automaker, at least for this year.

For GM, which has made a successful comeback from backruptcy with aid from the US federal government, Toyota's problems have come as a blessing in disguise.

For the Japanese automaker, which was rocked by the problems associated with its major safety recalls last year - about 14 million Toyotas were recalled - last month's natural disasters that derailed its domestic supply chain has come as a further blow.

GM has, on the other hand, improved its models, added smaller versions and, at the same time, diversified its products.

With new models such as the Chevy Equinox small SUV, the Cruze compact and the Buick LaCrosse luxury car, GM now dominates Toyota in the Chinese market as well.

Toyota Motor Corp on Friday said it might take it till December to restore normal production of all its models because of parts shortage caused by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

"To all the customers who made the decision to buy a vehicle made by us, I sincerely apologize for the enormous delay in delivery. Immediately after the earthquake, Toyota, like others, sent its employees into the disaster zone to join forces with our plants, dealers and suppliers to take steps toward recovery. I, too, visited the affected areas several times," said TMC president Akio Toyoda at a press conference, on Friday, announcing the normalisation timeline.
 
Toyota expects production to normalise around November or December 2011.

"In Japan, depending on vehicle model, normalization of production is expected to start in July, with normalisation completing around November or December. Outside Japan, depending on region and vehicle model, normalization of production is expected to start in August, with normalization completing around November or December," the automaker said in a web site release.