UPDATE 3-GM pulls just ahead of Toyota in '07 global sales

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By Jui Chakravorty Das

DETROIT, Jan 23 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday reported worldwide sales of 9.37 million vehicles in 2007, coming in just ahead of Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) in a closely watched race for the top spot in global sales.

GM, which was expected to lose its title of the world's largest automaker for the first time in 76 years, sold 9,369,524 vehicles in 2007. Toyota sold about 9,366,000 units, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Japanese automaker earlier this month publicly announced global sales of 9.37 million for 2007, saying it would disclose more precise figures in late January.

GM said its total global sales rose 3 percent from a year earlier, driven by strong growth in regions outside North America.

Still, the two automakers are neck-and-neck, with only about 3,500 vehicles separating them at a time when Toyota has been growing in the United States -- the world's single largest market for vehicle sales -- while GM's domestic market share has been slipping.

Since 1998, GM's global sales have grown at an average annual rate of about 1.5 percent, while Toyota's growth rate has been five times that.

The two automakers have been perceived to be in a heated race this year after Toyota overtook GM in the first quarter and then fell behind by just a few thousand units later in the year.