Toyota didn't pass Ford in the rank.

[Omega325]

For the longest time GM and Ford has been battling it out for yearly sales, but recent statistics show that Toyota now holds the second place in rank (GM being number one). What this statistic failed to tell us is that Ford didn't include the sales that Mazda had made for that year, so having said this Ford still holds the second place. I personally love Toyota, Lexus, GM and its umbrella corporations, so I was a bit sad to read this. Also what kind of ties does GM and Toyota have? I saw that some GM automobiles have the VVT engine in them. This is a Toyota engine. I know that the Vibe and the Matrix were pretty much identical (with the exception that one had a Toyota badge) as well as the Echo and the Aveo. Is it just pretty much designs and engines that they share?

[Hudson]

Ford only owns 1/3 of Mazda, therefore Ford should not (and does not) count Mazda production as its own. For the same reason, GM doesn't count Suzuki, Subaru, Isuzu, or Fiat as part of its numbers. Toyota previously counted NUMMI production (it's share, anyway) in its numbers. When Toyota realized that Ford did not count similar numbers in its calculations (Toyota owns half of NUMMI and a larger proportion of the output is for Toyota products), Toyota showed different numbers which pulled Toyota back into third place. It wasn't any controversy that made them do this...it was Toyota's decision.

While the Vibe and Matrix are mostly similar vehicles, Toyota and GM have no cross-ownership. Additionally, the Echo and Aveo aren't related at all. The Echo is all Toyota....the Aveo is all GM Daewoo.