The company reported a 0.6 per cent drop in its quarterly global sales to 2.25 million. General Motors said it expected global vehicle sales to rise by 4 per cent this year in spite of slumping demand for cars and trucks in the US, which hurt its quarterly sales figures. The forecast by the US group underscored the extent to which new car buyers in Russia, China, India and other emerging markets continue to prop up global carmakers' sales figures even as they plummet in rich countries more exposed to the US economic slowdown. GM on Wednesday reported a 0.6 per cent drop in its quarterly global sales to 2.25 million. It lost its slender lead as the world's top-selling carmaker in the first quarter to Toyota, which on Wednesday reported global sales of 2.41 million in January to March. Toyota's sales in the US, its largest market, were down 4.4 per cent for the quarter, but strong sales in other overseas markets meant that its global sales were 2.8 per cent higher than a year ago. Mike DiGiovanni, GM's chief sales analyst, said that his company saw "minimal contagion' between America's economic problems and Asia and Latin America. "The fundamentals are in place for a second-half recovery,' he said. However, DiGiovanni added that GM might have a weaker second quarter because of higher petrol prices. "This is clearly a headwind we didn't anticipate,' he said. Analysts expect the US car market to fall by about 1million units to roughly 15m units this year