GENERAL Motors Corp fell further behind Toyota Motor Corp in global sales during the second quarter as a deteriorating United States market damped the Detroit-based auto maker's gains in Asia and other regions.

GM said yesterday it sold 2.29 million vehicles, a 5 percent decrease from a year earlier, in the three months through June 30. The Japanese car maker said that its preliminary sales rose 1.8 percent in the period to about 2.41 million, Bloomberg News reported.

The results diminish chances that GM will be able to keep its 76-year reign as the world's biggest auto maker. In 2007, GM fell behind in the first quarter and narrowed the gap in the second before topping Toyota by 3,100 for the year.

US sales for GM fell 21 percent during the April-June period, while Toyota's dropped 7.8 percent. The US has been a drain on both auto makers as record gasoline prices dented demand for larger vehicles, such as GM's Chevrolet Tahoe sport-utility vehicle and the Toyota Tundra pickup.

Both auto makers have cut truck production and lowered their forecasts for vehicle sales in the region this year.

'The sales difficulties in the US are going to continue, the price of fuel is just so high,' John Wolkonowicz, an analyst with Global Insight Inc, said.