Over at the BusinessWeek Auto Beat Blog, "Who's No.1? Who cares." the focus of the story is not on whether Toyota is now the world's largest auto manufacturer but how Toyota has actually resisted becoming No.1 by reducing its incentives.
While the crown is interesting for the fact that GM held it for 76 years, I think we'd all agree that absolute volume is not the auto makers' "vital sign" here but rather profitability. I expect the numbers will be telling on that front and Toyota will truly be No.1