General Motors (NYSE: GM) has been the number one seller of cars and trucks in the world for 76 years. Many analysts expected that impressive run to come to an end in 2007, with Toyota (NYSE: TM) taking the global sales crown. But results released yesterday for 2007 show that GM has managed to keep the sales title for one more year.

GM announced that it sold 9.369 million vehicles, compared to Toyota's 9.366 million. The New York Times points out that the difference between the two companies is roughly 3,000 -- which is the number of pickup trucks that GM sells on any given day in the U.S.

It's quite a feat for GM to have kept the sales crown, particularly since its sales in the U.S. were down 6%. But most of GM's sales (59% according to the Times) are now outside of the U.S., and GM saw impressive growth in many parts of the world -- up 74% in India and 18% in China.

Even with GM's surprisingly good sales performance, though, when it comes to the number investors are most interested in, profit, the two global giants tell very different stories. GM hasn't announced fourth quarter earnings yet, but it lost a whopping $38 billion in the first three quarters of 2007. Toyota, on the other hand, is sitting in record profits of nearly $15 billion for 2007.

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