Toyota Motor Corp. became one of the Big Three automakers in 2006, using its strong December U.S. sales to oust DaimlerChrysler from the fabled troika.

Toyota (7203.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) overtook DaimlerChrysler for the No. 3 spot in sales in the U.S. market for all of 2006 as it continued to take share from U.S. automakers whose critical truck sales closed the year on a down note.

December U.S. sales at General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile , Research) fell about 10 percent each, when adjusted for an extra selling day a year earlier. DaimlerChrysler AG's (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile , Research) Chrysler unit was the lone U.S. automaker to post gains with adjusted sales rising 4 percent.

Toyota's sales rose more than 16 percent, driven by strong demand for its Corolla and Camry sedans. Its December figures bring full-year sales to 2.54 million, surpassing DaimlerChrysler's 2.39 million.

Toyota is expected to overtake GM as the world's largest automaker in 2007 and take second place in the United States.

"(Toyota) will be No. 2 in 2007," said Alex Rosten, an industry analyst with Edmunds.com. "Ford has even conceded the fact that Toyota is going to overtake them as the No. 2 automaker in North America."

Ford said sales were hurt by a 21 percent decline in sales of F-series pickup trucks -- its top-selling vehicle. Explorer sports utility vehicle (SUV) sales fell 29.5 percent. Overall truck sales were down 14 percent due to higher gas prices and a soft housing market.

"The (truck) segment will still continue to be under pressure ... at least in the early part of 2007," Ford sales analyst George Pipas said on a call. "The new products will help offset some of the softness we are seeing in housing."

Ford's car sales fell almost 10 percent.

The combined monthly U.S. market share for Detroit's Big Three is estimated to be 54.3 percent in December, down from 56.6 percent a year earlier, according to Edmunds.com.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (7267.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) said U.S. December sales rose 3 percent and Nissan North America Co. Ltd. (7201.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) said sales were up 4.4 percent, driven by demand for its new Altima, Sentra and Versa cars.

Asian automakers have gained ground this year as consumers shifted away from larger, gas-guzzling SUVs to smaller sports utility models or cars.

Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. (005380.KS: Quote, Profile , Research) have relied on cars in the U.S. market, while domestic automakers have focused on larger SUVs and trucks, which account for at least 60 percent of their sales.

Industry-wide sales ran at an annualized rate of 16.8 million vehicles for December, in line with analysts' estimates and down from 17.1 million a year earlier.

GM's average U.S. transaction price on vehicles rose 8 percent in December from the prior year, a top company official told reporters and analysts on Wednesday.

Paul Ballew, GM's chief sales analyst, said transaction prices were up 7 percent during the fourth quarter and up 2 percent for 2006.

"They held the line on incentives and their transaction prices actually improved," Rosten said of GM, which is in the middle of a broad restructuring after losing $10.6 billion in 2005.

"Lower sales volume isn't necessarily a bad thing if you are making more money per unit," Rosten said, adding that GM had spent the least per vehicle on incentives since April 2002.

The Big Three are all cutting production as they try to align capacity with demand. GM on Wednesday cut its first- quarter production forecast by 20,000 to 1.120 million vehicles, saying it was to reduce low-margin daily rental fleet sales.

GM had also cut its 2006 fourth-quarter production by 13 percent, while Ford forecast a 22 percent cut and Chrysler reduced second-half production by as much as 17 percent.

JP Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel expects GM will likely cut production further in 2007.

"GM ended with 1.05 million units in inventory, roughly flat with last year, and could still hold risks for 07 production," Patel said in a note to clients.