IN 1931 India was in the thick of its struggle for independence, Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights got its premiere and Ford secured its place as America’s second-biggest car firm.

Last week City Lights was playing again in New York, Ford lost its crown to Toyota, and an Indian firm became the preferred bidder for two of the remaining bits of the British car industry.

I bet people will still be watching City Lights in another 77 years, but will they be driving Fords?

Having eclipsed Ford, Japan’s Toyota is now closing on General Motors as the No 1 car firm in the US. Toyota sold 2.62m cars and trucks in America last year, 48,226 more than Ford, according to sales figures released last week.

Toyota’s sales were up almost 3% for the year, buoyed by new products such as the Toyota Tundra pickup truck. Ford’s sales fell 12% to 2.57m vehicles.

General Motors remains No 1, selling 3.82m vehicles last year. But the number is down 6% from 2006.

Soon GM could fall behind Toyota in the race to be the world’s biggest auto-maker. GM made 9.28m vehicles worldwide last year, roughly 230,000 fewer than Toyota’s 2007 estimate of 9.51m.

By the end of this month, when Toyota releases its final numbers, the battle could be over. GM has been the world’s largest auto-maker by sales for 76 years.

Even if Toyota does claim pole position, it will not be able to rest on its laurels. American dominance in the car industry may be coming to an end, but India and China will soon be along to challenge the Japanese.

This week at the Delhi auto show Tata Motors, India’s biggest car firm, will show its €1,700 car. This vehicle may do for “rural Indians what Henry Ford’s Model T did for early 20th-century Americans,” according to Iain Carson and Vijay Vaitheeswaran, authors of the book Zoom.

Tata already dominates the commercial vehicle market in India and has increased sales in the small car segment, where it works with Fiat. Its move on Ford-owned Jaguar and Land Rover will give Tata a global presence.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the takeover has encountered resistance. “I don’t believe the US public is ready for ownership out of India for a luxury-car brand such as Jaguar,” Ken Gorin, chairman of the Jaguar Business Operations Council, told the Wall Street Journal.

Some British people felt the same way when Ford bought the UK’s prestige marques and the figures show Ford did little to persuade them they were wrong.

There do seem to be quality concerns with Tata’s cars. The customer satisfaction expert JD Power has panned them and the deal may founder. Whatever the outcome, however, the ambition remains.

While Ford and GM look scared, Tata is launching a revolutionary car and gunning for two of the most famous brands on the planet. For much of the 20th century, the roads belonged to America. Now America is being forced to pull over for rising powers in the East.

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