Toyota beats out GM for world's largest automaker

(CNN) — Toyota beat out General Motors to recapture the title of world's largest automaker in 2012. The Japanese car maker sold 9-point-75 million vehicles globally last year.

Toyota's sales totals were also helped by the fact that it made more than 600-thousand heavy-duty trucks and buses during the year. That's a big bounce back from 2011, when production was hurt by the deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

General Motors slipped to second place, selling 9-point-29 million vehicles last year.German auto giant Volkswagen Group came in third with about 9-point-one million vehicles.