DETROIT, July 23: General Motors on Wednesday posted a five per cent drop in global sales in the second quarter as a sharp drop in its home market offset strong gains overseas.

The sales decline also left GM trailing Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. in the race for global automotive supremacy.

GM’s sales slipped to 2.29 million vehicles in the April through June period after North American sales fell 20 per cent to 963,929, while sales outside the region grew by 10 per cent to 1,322,765.

GM said it was still “on track” to sell more than nine million vehicles this year as sales for the first six months reached 4.54 million vehicles, a three per cent decline from the same period of 2007.

Toyota said last week it had sold 4.8 million units worldwide this year through June 30.

GM said its sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew 15 per cent to 386,980 vehicles.

Sales in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East rose 18 per cent to 346,085 vehicles, powered by Chevrolet, which accounted for nearly 90 per cent of vehicle sales in the region.

European sales rose 2.5 per cent to 589,700 vehicles. But Jonathan Browing, GM’s vice president of global sales, service and marketing, said that most of the growth in Europe was concentrated in the former Soviet bloc in eastern Europe.—AFP