By Poornima Gupta Wed Jan 4, 9:09 PM ET
DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. automakers posted lower December sales on Wednesday, capping a tumultuous year in which Detroit's Big Three struggled to come to terms with changing consumer tastes prompted by high gas prices. ADVERTISEMENT
In sharp contrast, Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T) -- which is poised to unseat General Motors Corp. (DCXGn.DE) as the world's largest automaker -- posted an 8.2 percent increase in December sales and grabbed more market share from U.S. automakers last month. . It was good year for car sales overall, but GM, Ford suffered particularly because of the collapse of their big SUVs," Burnham Securities analyst Dave Healy said. . Asian brands won a 36.5 percent share of the U.S. market last year, a
1.9 percentage point increase compared with the same period a year ago. U.S. automakers, on the other hand, collectively lost 1.7 points of share at 57 percent, according to industry tracking firm Autodata. .