The Toyota Corolla is the world's most popular car.
Toyota’s Corolla was the world’s top-selling car last year.
It may have its pitfalls, but globalisation has paid big dividends for the world’s leading car companies, with the top 10 selling cars in the world all based on global platforms.
Toyota’s recent massive recall of more than 8 million cars highlighted the potential hazards of building a world car, but the company has also reaped the rewards, producing three of the top 10 selling cars in the world in 2009.
The Japanese giant basically builds the same car for every market in the world, with minor modifications to suspension and engine line-ups to suit local tastes. The high-volume approach pays dividends in lower tooling, development and production costs.
Most popular car in the world
Toyota Corolla
According to figures compiled by economic forecaster IHS Global Insight and published by Forbes magazine in the United States, Toyota’s Corolla was the world’s most popular car last year, while the Camry and Yaris also made the top 10.
The list also highlights the logic behind Ford boss Alan Mulally’s push to have just four basic car platforms for the entire global market.
The “One Ford” strategy - which threatens the extinction of Ford’s locally-built Falcon – has seen the Focus small car and the Fiesta city runabout move into second and third place respectively. Fiesta’s global sales should improve even further when the car is launched in the US later this year. The car toppled Europe’s perennial best-seller, the Volkswagen Golf, in the first quarter of this year.
But Volkswagen’s dominance of the booming Chinese market has pushed its Golf and Polo into the top 10, while Honda’s popularity in the United States sees it field two top-10 cars, the Civic small car and the mid-size Accord.
Number eight on the top seller list will surprise many Australians; the Peugeot 207 small car is a niche player in our local market – and doesn’t sell in the United States – but its popularity in Europe seals it a place among the blockbuster sellers.
Top Ten
1. Toyota Corolla 908,661
2. Ford Focus 781,139
3. Ford Fiesta 724,502
4. Volkswagen Golf 705,276
5. Honda Civic 686,000
6. Toyota Camry 679,117
7. Honda Accord 586,584
8. Peugeot 207 536,090
9. Volkswagen Polo 467,067
10.Toyota Yaris 466,267
