If Toyota Motor Corp. has eyes on taking the title of world's largest automaker from General Motors Corp. next year, it won't happen without a fight.
In an interview Thursday, GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said his company has room for growth worldwide and will forcefully defend its title.
"I like being No. 1, and I think our people take pride in it," he told a small group of reporters at GM's headquarters. "It's not something we're going to sit back and let somebody else pass us by."...
...If Toyota does pass GM, Wagoner said he would not be pleased.
"It won't be a happy day for me, but I've lost basketball games before in my life. You get ready and you learn and you go back the next day, and that's what we'll do," he said. "We're going to fight to keep the position, and if one day we lose it, we'll fight to get it back."...
...Toyota isn't concerned about becoming No. 1 globally, said spokesman Irv Miller. The company is working to keep its quality high, focus on customers and roll out its new Tundra full-sized pickup truck, he said.
"A perceived sales challenge for global leadership is not something we're even thinking about," Miller said.
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