DETROIT Detroit’s automakers went out with a whimper in 2007, as a lackluster December failed to pull the industry out of the lowest U.S. auto sales slump in nearly a decade.

Ford Motor Co. was knocked from its perch as the No. 2 U.S. auto seller, a position it held since 1931, while General Motors appeared likely to lose its title of the largest automaker in the world. Both were dethroned by the juggernaut that is Toyota.

Toyota Motor Corp. sold 2.62 million cars and trucks in the U.S. in 2007, which amounted to 48,226 more than Ford, according to sales figures released Thursday. Toyota’s sales were up 3 percent for the year, buoyed by new products such as the Toyota Tundra pickup, which saw sales jump 57 percent. Ford’s sales fell 12 percent to 2.57 million vehicles.

General Motors Corp. remained the U.S. sales leader, selling 3.82 million vehicles in 2007. But that was down 6 percent from the previous year as customers turned away from some large sedans and sport utility vehicles and GM cut low profit sales to employees and rental car companies.

Even worse, GM could fall behind Toyota in the race to be the world’s biggest automaker. GM said Thursday it made 9.28 million vehicles worldwide last year, roughly 230,000 fewer than Toyota’s 2007 production estimate of 9.51 million. Toyota expects to have final numbers later in January but issued the 2007 estimate on Dec. 25 with just six days left in the year.

The real prize, the worldwide auto sales lead, must still be determined, with both companies to release 2007 global sales figures later this month. GM has been the world’s largest automaker by sales for 76 years.

Officials at GM, Ford and Toyota downplayed the news Thursday.

“We don’t pay a lot of attention to rankings such as that,” Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said. “It’s always nice to see the product is recognized and accepted by the consumer. The consumer’s going to be the ultimate determining factor in who the winner is.”

In an Internet chat with journalists, GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said GM leads in 13 of the 15 largest markets, but Toyota has a huge lead in Japan. “We’re staying focused on our plan,” he said. “Great cars, smart marketing, growth in the emerging markets. And hopefully that will keep us on top. If not, we’ll come back to work the next day and work even harder.”

Isuzu News Isuzu sticks with GM for DuraMax diesel engine joint venture

One of the technical highlights of the last generation GMT 800 full size trucks from GM was the Duramax turbo diesel V 8. This strong, efficient, refined engine was miles ahead of the Navistar engine in the Ford trucks and the Cummins engine that Dodge uses. The Duramax diesels are built by a General Motors Isuzu joint venture in Ohio called DMAX ltd. However, in the last year and a half, GM has been extricating themselves from most of their Japanese partnerships including Isuzu. Earlier this week, Isuzu announced that they were hooking up with Toyota and would work with Toyota on developing diesel engines for use in Toyota vehicles.

This caused the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun to report that Isuzu was asking GM to sell their stake in the DMAX and another venture in Poland to Toyota. Today, both Isuzu and Toyota denied the report and in fact said that the issue had not even been discussed. The Japanese paper’s report did say that the plant would continue to supply engines to GM after a Toyota deal, which would be critical to GM’s truck programs. GM CEO Rick Wagoner is in Tokyo today so it remains to be seen what will happen.