Toyota Motor Corp. has unseated General Motors Corp. as the world’s biggest carmaker last year instead of in 2007, as industry observers have earlier predicted.

Detroit-based weekly Automotive News, whose data centre publishes a widely quoted ranking of the world’s automakers, said Japan’s top carmaker outsold GM by about 128,000 units last year based on a technicality that excludes sales of vehicles at minority-held subsidiaries.

It is now the world’s current number one automaker, but Toyota – maker of top of the line Toyota oxygen sensor — is not about to rest on its laurels.

On Tuesday announced the development of new engine technology that promises to mark a major step in the evolution of the gas engine. The giant Japanese automaker confirmed that it plans to completely revamp its gasoline engine and transmission lineup by the end of the decade.

The move comes in the middle of the domestic automakers’ frantic scrambling to come up with new, more competitive global engines, with Chrysler Group’s new Phoenix family of V6 engines being a major case in point. A report from Inside Line is saying that diesels may be a component of the future engine and transmission lineup for Toyota.

Toyota on Tuesday introduced a next-generation engine valve mechanism called “Valvematic” that according to the company improves fuel efficiency by 5-10 percent, and reduces CO2 emissions and boosts output by at least 10 percent. The automaker said it will “introduce Valvematic shortly, starting with a new vehicle model featuring a 2. 0-liter engine. ”

Toyota said Valvematic “further evolves the gasoline engine” by not only paying attention to green concerns but by also “enhancing acceleration responsiveness.

The company’s plans to produce more technologically advanced, environmentally vehicles are as released in a company news release, involve:

Related posts:

1. Volvo Outlines Growth Plans Amid Sale Rumors
2. Toyota Overtakes General Motors
3. Toyota Exceeded Gm as 2006 Top Automaker
4. Toyota: Bad News
5. The Odd Early Toyota