Japan 2007: 37th year of Corolla domination (it’s the last one)

Toyota Corolla

* See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

The effect of the new generation on Toyota Corolla’s sales in Japan are rather short-lived: from +24% in January, the year-on-year variation slips into negative as early as August. Nevertheless the Corolla was #1 10 (consecutive) months out of 12, and with 147,069 sales up 3%, it is the best selling car in Japan again this year, a feat it has achieved  in 37 out of the last 38 years. 2007 is to this date the last year the Toyota Corolla managed to top the Japanese sales ranking.

Honda Fit

The Toyota Vitz is solid all year round and clocks up 121,377 sales, up 3%. The Honda Fit takes the 3rd spot with 116,561 units (+15%), a figure that doesn’t reflect the impressive sales surge the model enjoyed at the launch of the 2nd generation in November: +147% at 18,138 units that month and +144% at 18,719 units in December compared to 9,958 for the Corolla…

Enjoying the benefits of a light facelift, the Toyota Passo (aka Daihatsu Sirion) climbs to 4th place with 80,015 sales (+11%), passing the Nissan Serena, stable at #5, and the Toyota Estima, down two spots at #6. The Toyota Voxy and Noah, two versions of a boxy SUV revamped this year, both do very well, ranking respectively #7 at +16% and #10 at +12%. The Voxy peaked at #4 in August.

Toyota Voxy

The Mazda Demio new generation breaks into the Top 10 in 8th place with 65,507 sales, peaking at #5 in July. Notice the excellent progression of the Toyota Prius: without the help of any restyling, it divides its ranking by two, going from #22 in 2006 to #11 in 2007, its sales improving by 20% at 58,315 units.

You can check every monthly Top 30 for 2007 here.

Previous year: Japan 2006: New generation enables Corolla to keep the lead

Next year: Japan 2008: Honda Fit crowned

Full Year 2007 Top 30 Ranking Table below.