Toyota takes world sales lead from GM

“This is clearly a headwind that we didn’t anticipate to be at this level, so that’s factored into our thinking as well,” DiGiovanni told reporters and industry analysts on a conference call.

But he said the fundamentals are in place for a recovery in the second half of the year with the federal government’s economic stimulus checks and interest rate cuts taking full effect.

DiGiovanni said gasoline prices can’t be predicted, but GM is preparing for increases.

“It’s affected by so many factors, both political, societal, tangible in terms of what the actual physical reserves in the ground are and the cost to get at them. It’s affected by refineries. It’s affected by pipelines. It’s affected by anything that can go wrong in the whole chain. And now it’s affected by speculation, which is driving part of it. So I do not think this is something you can forecast,” he said.

But DiGiovanni said GM has raised its internal forecast for gasoline prices aggressively.

With new cars and crossover vehicles already out or coming this year, DiGiovanni said the company is well positioned to capture the market as it continues to shift away from trucks and sport utility vehicles.

“Our portfolio is moving in the direction the market is moving,” he said. “Part of that’s luck and part of that’s planning.”

Toyota, meanwhile, said its worldwide production expanded 7 percent from a year earlier to 2.54 million vehicles.

Toyota, which built its business in the decades after World War II by imitating American automakers, said output of popular, fuel-efficient small cars such as the Corolla model grew strongly in China, while production of pickup trucks rose steadily in Thailand during the quarter.

In the Japanese fiscal year through March 2008, Toyota’s global output rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier to 9.66 million vehicles.

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s No. 2 automaker, said its global production rose 4.5 percent from a year ago to 1.02 million vehicles in the January-March quarter.

Nissan Motor Co. said its global output rose 9.4 percent from a year ago to 950,878 vehicles during the quarter.

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