DETROIT, Jan 5: General Motors boss Rick Wagoner insists the US company will not give up its position as the world's top automaker without a fight. Speaking ahead of this weekend’s press opening of the North American International Auto Show, the GM chairman and chief executive said he was well aware of the seemingly unstoppable rise of Japan’s Toyota.

“I like being number one and I think our people take pride in it. So it’s not something we’re going to sit back and let somebody else pass us,” Wagoner told reporters late Thursday.

“We’re going to have to fight for every sale and do it in a way that is consistent with building the enterprise,” he said.

“We’re going to fight to keep the position and if we lose we're going to fight to get it back.”

Last month, Toyota said it planned to make 9.42 million vehicles worldwide this year. For the first time, that would exceed production at GM, which expects to have made 9.18m units in 2006.

This year, GM's production looks likely to fall with the company, like its Detroit rival Ford, laying off thousands of workers and shuttering plants.

In 2006, GM’s sales in the United States dropped to just over 4.124m, their lowest level since 1970, when its production was crippled by a bitter strike by the United Auto Workers union.

GM's total US market share fell to 24.3pc from 26.0pc in 2005, according to Autodata Corp. Toyota’s rose to 15.4pc compared to 13.3, supplanting DaimlerChrysler. Ford was second with 16.4 per cent, from 17.4.

GM's worldwide sales of 9.1 million last year were down a touch from 2005 but Wagoner insisted: “Globally we had a good year.”

He said that GM has plenty of opportunities to grow its sales in places such as China, Latin America, South Africa and Russia.

“We’re looking forward to another good year in 2007 for the global industry,” added the GM boss, who said he expected sales of new cars around the world to grow to 69 million units this year from 67 million in 2006.—AFP