Toyota pulled well ahead of General Motors in global vehicle sales in the first half of 2008, putting it on track to become the world’s undisputed number-one carmaker.

Toyota’s first-half sales, at 4.82m vehicles, were 2.2 per cent higher than a year earlier, while GM slipped by 3 per cent to 4.54m. Second quarter sales totalled 2.41m and 2.28m, respectively. The two companies were neck-and-neck in 2007.