Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) finally become the world's top auto seller this past quarter, toppling General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM).

If production numbers are any indication, General Motors is fighting a losing battle to regain its top spot.

In 2006, General Motors outproduced Toyota by pumping out 9.18 million vehicles compared with Toyota's 9.018 million. In the first quarter of this year Toyota edged out General Motors with 2.37 million vehicles, slightly above General Motors' 2.34 million.

It should really come as no surprise that Toyota overtook GM, which showed international sales of "only" 2.26 million vehicles in the quarter. Toyota has been expanding while America's powerhouse automakers General Motors, DaimlerChrysler AG's (NYSE: DCX) Chrysler and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) have been closing factories and laying off workers.

Over the past few years Toyota has been chipping away at General Motors and everyone knew it was just a matter of time before it overtook the company's sales numbers. The true winner won't be really decided until the end of the year, but it seems rather impossible at this point that General Motors is going to be able to be able to fend off its Japanese rival.

Not sure what General Motors can do between now and the end of the year to hang onto the top annual seller of autos, but it sure isn't looking too good at this point.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

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