Detroit-based General Motors is narrowing the sales gap with Toyota Motor Corp, thanks to strong second-quarter sales numbers, despite the fact that demand for their product is continuing to shrink in North America.

On Thursday, July 19th, GM shared its sales results for April - June 2007: a total of 2.4 million units, bringing the number for the first half of the year up to 4.674 million. Despite selling 10,000 fewer new cars than last year's second quarter, this helped raise sales by 1.7 percent for the year so far.

GM's sales were only 42,000 vehicles short of Toyota's tally for the first six months of 2007, reducing the gap from a 90,000-unit difference after the year's first quarter. (According to sources at Toyota, their sales for January - June 2007 were 8 percent higher than last year.)

GM's sales had kept it the world's biggest automaker for 75 years, until Toyota overtook it in 2006, largely by increasing sales in the United States.

While GM's sales numbers do not include sales from their Chinese joint venture, SAIC-GM-Wuling, in which it is a minority partner, Toyota's do include numbers from Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd, in which it is a majority shareholder.

Even though GM's second quarter sales rose in every region but its largest, the North American numbers decreased 7 percent, due in part to the high price of gasoline and a weak housing market. Outside the United States, the company's sales were 1.39 million units, representing 58 percent of their total sales.

GM is continuing to grow worldwide, despite the fact that it continues to lose ground to Japanese car makers in America. They are forecasting a final total of 9.2 million vehicles sold by the end of 2007, while Toyota will likely still beat them with projected sales of 9.34 million units.

GM is currently restructuring its North American operations, and sources there say that they expect the company to show a recovery in that market in 2008.