General Motors World’s Largest Automaker, Volkswagen Second, Toyota Third

General Motors is back on top as the world’s largest automaker, outselling Toyota in the first 6 months of 2011. Both GM and Volkswagen managed to surpass the Japanese automaker in sales, with March’s earthquake and tsunami blamed for severely hampering Toyota’s overall production.

GM moved 4.536 million cars in the six-month period ending June 30th, an 8.9 percent gain. Volkswagen sold 4.13 million units by comparison, while Toyota sold 3.71 million cars. Analysts claim that it will take a significant amount of time for Toyota to make up the volume lost during this year’s natural disasters.

[Source: Automotive News]