World No. 1 – Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla stake simultaneous claims

Last year, Ford issued a release to the press quoting data from the global automotive data collection and analysis house Polk that the Focus was the world’s best-selling vehicle in 2012 with 1.02 million vehicles sold around the globe.

The statement provoked a response from Toyota, who replied that the Corolla is a far bigger seller with 1.16 million units sold, asserting that Polk’s estimation of its sales were some 300,000 units off the mark.

The two companies are at it again this year, with Ford announcing, once again using data from Polk, that global sales of the Focus in 2013 closed at 1,097,618 cars sold worldwide, and increase of 8.1% from 2012.

Toyota, meanwhile, quotes internal production numbers and claims that global sales of the Corolla to be in the region of 1.22 million vehicles. Interestingly, Toyota also quoted its own analysis of Polk’s data suggesting that the firm ‘may have excluded data for Corolla Axio, Corolla Altis, Corolla EX, Corolla Fielder and Corolla Rumion, which are identified and marketed as Corolla sedans and wagons’.

According to Toyota, if sales of the above variants were taken into account and added to the total global tally, the Corolla’s total worldwide sales in 2013 would have added up to 1,098,524 units instead, marginally higher than the Focus’ total.

Historically, the Corolla is a much older and more established nameplate than the Focus. The first-generation Corolla rolled out in 1966, and the eleven models generations that since followed have sold a cumulative total of 40.72 million units as of February 2014.

The Focus, in comparison, is a more recent addition to the automotive landscape, with the first generation model debuting only as recently as 1998. Currently in its third model generation, cumulative sales of the Focus since the original model adds up to 12 million vehicles globally.

KON