Toyota Motor Corp. continued its surge in the U.S. market, pushing September sales up 25% from a year earlier, even as General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG sagged. GM said it would deepen production cuts to reduce inventories of unsold vehicles.
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The latest results solidify the U.S. market's new order, in which Detroit's Big Three are no longer the U.S. market's top three selling companies. Toyota continues to pull further ahead of DaimlerChrysler, which it displaced as the No. 3 U.S. auto maker, and is closing in on No. 2 Ford. In September, Toyota came within 14,401 vehicles of outselling Ford, which continued to rely on sales to corporate fleets and rental agencies for more than a quarter of its sales.

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Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of industry analysis, said GM still needs to correct fuel-economy misconceptions about its brands. GM plans to focus its advertising on 23 models that get at least 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

"What's happened in the last year has been very beneficial for Toyota," Mr. Ballew said, referring to gas prices. "We need to redouble our efforts and get our story out."