World: Toyota celebrates 40 million Corollas

40 million Corollas have been sold worldwide since the first generation launched in October 1966.

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Today Toyota celebrates a milestone that no other manufacturer has: the 40 millionth model of a single nameplate, the Toyota Corolla. Global sales figures have shown the Corolla passed this milestone in late July. Granted, this figure has been achieved through 11 generations of the model and today’s Corolla bears absolutely no resemblance with the very first one launched in 1966, but still, it is a testimony of the level of trust this nameplate has garnered over the years. This barrier is passed only 2 months after Volkswagen celebrated its 30 millionth Golf.

The Corolla became the best-selling car in the world for the first time in 1974, 40 years ago!

It is estimated that 26 million Corollas are still in use worldwide today, which is actually pretty impressive, meaning less than half of all the Corollas ever produced in the last 47 years have been scrapped. The Corolla became the world’s best-selling nameplate in 1997, beating the record previously set by the Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle however remains the most successful single design with 21,529,464 almost identical units produced.

The 11th generation sedan (US model shown) should help the Corolla stay on top of the world.

The Corolla is now produced in 15 plants around the world, with one being built and sold every 37 seconds on average since production began in 1966! Today this rate has increased to one every 27 seconds. It has been the world’s best-selling car almost every year since 1974, including last year in 2012. The race to the world #1 spot is much tighter in 2013, with the Ford Focus currently leading the way…

The VW Beetle remains the best-selling single design with 21,529,464 units produced.

Now onto the fun facts, as I’m sure you will enjoy them as much as I did. To drive past all those 40 million cars, sitting on 100km/h for 24 hours a day, it would take almost 67 days to complete the journey! Australia was the first country in the world to receive Corolla exports when 15 were shipped in November 1966, just one month after the Corolla launched in Japan!  It took four years to reach one million Corolla sales, a decade to reach five million sales and 16 years to pass 10 million. The most recent 10 million were produced in 8 years.

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