by Brian Byrne. Toyota is now on a track that it could overtake GM as the world's largest carmaker within three years.
According to last year's sales figures, the Japanese company gained 600,000 extra vehicles, and is now within 1.38 million units of GM.
The largest gain for Toyota was in the USA market, which was responsible for a third of the extra sales.
Toyota passed Ford last year.
Total sales of the Big Three in 2004 were GM: 8,089,551; Toyota: 6,707,600; and Ford: 6,432,200.
However, the Ford figures don't include Mazda's 1,157,345 units, which, if included, would put it back into second position.
And if the GM Daewoo Auto & Technology 900,084 units, a 55.2% increase and whose vehicles are mostly sold under the Chevrolet brand in Europe and some other markets, were added to the GM total, it would put the leader further ahead.
