DETROIT -- General Motors, pummeled by falling U.S. sales and high gas prices, lost the global sales lead to Toyota in the first half of this year, but the churning market makes it difficult to predict which automaker will end the year on top, according to The Associated Press.

Toyota sold 4,817,941 vehicles globally during the first six months of the year, company spokesman Hideaki Homma said Wednesday, beating GM by 277,532 vehicles. Toyota said its global sales rose 2 percent from the same period the year before, while GM's sales fell 3 percent.