Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp saw its global sales take their first quarterly dive in seven years as petrol prices soared and the global economy slowed, Japan's leading automaker said Monday.

Global sales fell by 4 per cent in the July-to-September quarter, compared with the same quarter a year earlier, to 2.24 million.

The Toyota group, which includes Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, recorded a rise in its global sales to 7.051 million units in the first six months of this fiscal year, which ends March 31, from the 7.05 million units from the same period in the previous fiscal year.

But the conglomerate expected its sales for the full year to be weaker than the previous year's sales of 9.37 million units.

The parent company itself was expected to surpass the US auto giant General Motors Corp in terms of annual sales to become the world's largest automaker in the current fiscal year although Toyota Corp was expected to post global sales lower than the 8.3 million units it recorded last year, the Kyodo News Agency reported. (dpa)