Toyota outsells GM to reclaim crown as world No. 1

--Toyota outsold General Motors in 2012 for the first time since 2010

--Toyota saw global sales rise 23% to record 9.75 million vehicles

--Nissan, Honda also post record sales in 2012

TOKYO--Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday retook the title of world's largest auto maker, posting a 23% gain in global sales to a record 9.75 million vehicles in 2012.

The strong showing allowed the Japanese auto maker to reclaim the top spot from General Motor Co. GM +1.01% , which sold 9.29 million vehicles in 2012, and to fend off Volkswagen AG , which sold 9.07 million.

Toyota, whose sales numbers include minicar maker Daihastsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd. (7205.TO), first became No. 1 in 2008, but fell behind GM three years later due to supply-chain disruptions from an earthquake in Japan and flooding in Thailand.

Last year, Japan's largest auto maker bounced back from such production woes and sold more vehicles than ever before on demand for its Prius family of hybrid cars, sedans like the Camry and SUVs such as the Lexus RX 350.

Separately, Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. , Japan's No. 2 and No. 3 auto makers by volume, also posted record sales in 2012. Nissan said it sold an all-time high of 4.94 million vehicles, up 5.8% on year. Honda's sales rose 19% to 3.82 million.

The big sales gains, coupled with a sharp weakening of the yen against the dollar late in the year, bode well for the profit picture at Japan's auto makers. A weaker yen increases the value of dollar-denominated sales overseas and makes Japanese exports more competitive abroad.

Honda will kick off the earnings season Thursday when it announces its latest quarterly results, followed by Toyota and Nissan next week.

This year, Toyota has forecast sales of 9.91 million vehicles on expectations for more modest growth now that it has caught up on a backlog of orders from 2011. It also reflects continued difficulties for it and Japan's other auto makers in China, the world's largest auto market.

Sales of Japanese brands plummeted from mid-September last year amid mounting political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. While Japan's auto makers say demand has begun to recover, the spat has been a major setback in efforts to match American and European rivals with greater market share in China.

Toyota didn't provide a break-down by country Monday, but it previously said it wouldn't likely meet an initial 2012 goal of selling 1 million cars in China.

That would be 10% of the company's mid-term goal of selling 10 million vehicles annually worldwide.

Earlier this month, Toyota said it sold 2.1 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, a 27% increase over 2011.