GM sales fall 11% in quarter

General Motors Corp. said Wednesday that reduced demand in the U.S. and Western Europe had pushed the company’s third-quarter worldwide sales down 11%, as GM fell further behind Toyota Motor Corp. for this year’s No. 1 global sales spot.

GM sold 2.11 million vehicles in the third quarter, while Toyota’s sales for the period fell 4% to 2.24 million. The results bring GM’s total sales for the year through September to 6.66 million vehicles compared with Toyota’s 7.05 million.

GM said sales declines in the U.S. and Western Europe offset strong demand from emerging markets. Sales outside the U.S. grew by 164,000 vehicles in the first nine months of the year.

Mike DiGiovanni, GM’s executive director of global market and industry analysis, said the same economic woes that have resulted in steep drops in U.S. sales this year spread to Western Europe during the third quarter.

North American sales dropped 18.9% during the quarter, while overall European sales fell 12.3%.

DiGiovanni said that although sales growth in emerging markets may be slowing, it’s still significant. GM reported quarterly sales increases of 15.1% in Russia, 15.5% in Brazil, 12% in China and 5% in India.

Japan-based Toyota has been vying with GM to be the world’s biggest automaker by global sales. Last year, Toyota’s group sales -- including those from minicar maker Daihatsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd. -- rose to 9.366 million vehicles, just shy of GM’s 9.370 million.

Toyota’s drop in third-quarter sales, which it also attributed to weak U.S. demand along with sluggish sales in its home country, marked its first year-over-year decline in the quarter since 2001, the company said.

The Japanese firm’s U.S. sales fell 32% in September.

For the first nine months of this year, GM’s U.S. sales were down 18%, while Toyota sales were down 10%.

GM shares gained 51 cents, or 8.2%, to $6.76. Toyota’s U.S. shares rose 69 cents to $71.67.