# CAR

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 31, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791 "2015-12-31T02:40:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![recyclecars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@recyclecars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/recyclecars)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/1 "2015-12-31T02:40:07Z")

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Which is the largest selling car in the world?

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**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/2 "2015-12-31T02:43:17Z")

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Weight or dimensions?

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**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/3 "2015-12-31T02:59:38Z")

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If you mean which is the best selling, it’s either the Beetle or Toyota Carolla. The Carolla has sold twice as many but has changed radically over the years. The original Beetle Type 1 was made from the 30s until 2003 with little to no changes.

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/4 "2015-12-31T03:04:19Z")

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“Corolla”, not “Carolla”

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**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/5 "2015-12-31T03:11:55Z")

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given these cars have different lifespans (with the corolla still going) i thought ot’d be interesting to see which one had the highest average rate of sales over its life. Looks like its the venerable Model T Ford, that american stalwart!

C **a** rolla = 800,000 average units per annum of production  
Model T Ford - 868,242 average units per annum of production  
VW Beetle - 861,178 average units per annum of production

All quite similar though. The corolla has the benefit of being sold into the highest (and relatively wealthiest) times of earths population i.e. from recent history until now. However there is also far more competition.

The ford had to deal with essentially no competition, but surely a more difficult world environment in terms of acceptance, uptake, engineering and logistics

The beetle probably still had to deal with WW2 anti-sentiment which it overcame. I know my grandparents who fought in that conflict wouldn’t have procured a german car (or a japanese either, probably) until the day they died.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/6 "2015-12-31T03:16:32Z")

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[Here are figures for 2014](http://www.statista.com/statistics/239229/most-sold-car-models-worldwide/), if you are looking for current popularity rather than cumulative history.

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/7 "2015-12-31T03:18:33Z")

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> [@zoid](#):
>
> Weight or dimensions?

[Kenworth Pilgrimage.](http://www.bikeforest.com/kenworth_pilgrimage.php)

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/8 "2015-12-31T21:50:48Z")

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One answer depends on your definition of car. With a rather loose definition, the answer is the children’s “car” known as the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe™. Little Tikes recently made the 30th Anniversary Edition.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/9 "2015-12-31T22:00:58Z")

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Matchbox.

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**Author:** ![cmdrpiffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b4bc9f/32.png) [@cmdrpiffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmdrpiffle)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/10 "2016-01-02T13:19:25Z")

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> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Matchbox.

NO way man, HOTWHEELS !!!

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**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/11 "2016-01-02T18:54:11Z")

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The most produced motor vehicle in history is the [Honda Super Cub](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Super_Cub) motorcycle. Between 1958 and 2014, Honda produced more than 87 million of them.

The company which sells the most motor vehicles per year (in the USA and also worldwide) is [Toyota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota). Toyota’s best selling model of all time is the Corolla (over 40 million).

The “largest” car currently being sold in the world is either (by weight) the Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB, at 2,745 kg, or (by length) the 2016 Mercedes-Mayback Pullman, at 4,418 mm wheelbase and 6,499 mm overall length. [List of automotive superlatives - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_superlatives)

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car/741791/12 "2016-01-04T16:32:08Z")

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Nobody publishes global sales numbers by model, but Toyota claims that it sold 1.2 million Corollas worldwide in 2015. Those numbers are a bit fuzzy, since they include “variants” that are based on completely different platforms (like the Asia-market EX, which is actually the old Corolla, or the Japan-market Reunion, which is sold as a Scion elsewhere).

Ford claims that the Focus outsells the Corolla if you only count “real” Focus/Corolla models, with some justification. But Ford also makes Toyota-esque claims about the F-series pickup trucks (which used to be the world’s best selling “car”) since the F-series generally uses two or more different chassis.
