NEW YORK — The Associated Press (AP) has reported that Toyota Motor Corp. has overtaken General Motors as the leading automaker in terms of number of cars and trucks sold around the world last year.

General Motors has held the top spot for the past 77 years, according to the AP.

Due to the overall decline in vehicle sales in 2008, Toyota didn’t take the lead because of growing sales, rather, the automaker posted less of a loss in vehicle sales than GM did for 2008.

GM sold 8.5 million cars and trucks around the world in 2008, about 616,000 fewer vehicles than Toyota reportedly sold in ’08. Toyota was said to have sold some 8.9 million vehicles around the globe last year.