Toyota may have moved closer to toppling Ford

Toyota Motor Corp. probably moved closer this month to ending Ford Motor Co.'s 76-year reign as the second-biggest seller of automobiles in the U.S., according to Bloomberg News reports.

Ford's sales may have dropped in May for a seventh straight month and Toyota's probably rose, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said. Through April, Ford's lead in U.S. sales had narrowed to 50,242 vehicles from 232,922 after the first four months last year.

"I don't think there's much debate that Toyota will overtake Ford" in the U.S., Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said in an interview. "You won't have to wait very long for that."

Ford has been No. 2 in the U.S. behind General Motors Corp. since 1931. Detroit News