GM loses global sales crown after 77 years

When asked about Toyota, GM's sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni said every major automaker was focused on profitability and survival amid the industry's worst downturn in decades.

"I don't think being No. 1 in global sales means much at all to the average consumer," he told reporters and analysts on a conference call. "I think it's an internal benchmark of our industry, but it really doesn't mean anything to the consumer."

But he also noted that GM had beat Toyota in sales in 17 of the 26 emerging markets the automaker tracks, including the big markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In 2008, GM sold 64 percent of its vehicles outside the United States, up from 59 percent a year earlier.

GM's sales in its home market dropped by 20 percent in 2008 but it posted gains of 10 percent in Brazil, 30 percent in Russia, 9 percent in India and 6 percent in China.

Despite a slow start to 2009, DiGiovanni said GM expected upcoming fiscal stimulus packages from the United States, China and other governments would boost demand in the second half of the year.

"We feel we've weathered one hell of a storm, and we're cautiously optimistic as we move into '09 that we can stabilize and grow again," he said.

(Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta and Soyoung Kim; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Matthew Lewis)