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Top 5 World’s Most Successful Cars Ever

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i like beetle :)

Man, where's the Corvair on this list?

I would have honestly thought that the Civic would have made this list considering its popularity in both Japan as well as North America.

Civic sux in Europe

Surprised to see the Gremlin overlooked.

I would think the the rating would have to be based on the total number of cars in production. That would make the model T #1 by far

Since when is a truck a car?

I'd like to see a list the BUYERS though were successfull

It thought Phantom would find a place here

article quote: "the most important market, the North American one"

utter, utter tripe

the dodge volare was the high point of american automotive design. no quality, no reliability, but they could build them faster than they could sell them

No love for the Accord? Interesting.

Corolla has gone from RWD to FWD, from super small to ever larger.. Shouldn't really be considered the same car..

#4 - the shape was a result of Dr Ferdinand Porsche's theories of aerodynamics (just like the various Porsche cars that followed) and the car was simply the Volkswagen. Beetle was merely a nickname.

opare, the North American market is indeed the most important market, simply because they buy more cars than any other.

"opare
article quote: "the most important market, the North American one"

utter, utter tripe "

You're right, of course. We should be concentrating on the residents of Burkina Faso.

toyota...huh huh... they're like... goood...huh huh

I'm mildly surprised that the Ford Mustang isn't in the top 5, but there are only 5 spots on this list.

This is purely by sales then?

"no wonder the Americans desperately need oil"

After all, everyone knows that Europeans power their cars with smugness and never, ever with petroleum.

People, Read the title of the article.
"Top 5 World’s Most Successful Cars Ever"
successful as in sales!

i seriously think we'll see the prius on that list in about 15 years.

and europeans power their 30 mpg cars on $9 a gallon petroleum.

"This is the first car manufactured by the so called assembly line manufacturing..." This is WRONG. The Model T was NOT the first car manufactured by assembly line manufacturing. That distinction belongs to Oldsmobile. The Model T is the first car manufactured by an assembly line assisted by automatic conveyer belts. This is a HUGE distinction which the author should have been aware of.

Amazing how high the Ford Focus is, considering how long it's been around.

Oh yeah, eat me

"and it is a vehicle which consumes 20 liters when idling" Everyone knows Americans never turn their vehicles off. Yes, we just let them idle all the time - just because we can.

Title should be "Cars that went the longest without changing names"

Sure, if Chevy never renamed the bel air, maybe it would top the list. Thats assuming the caprice would be the bel air, and today's impala held the bel air name.

the Ford F 150 consumes 20 litres when idling? You mean it idles for it's entire life? What kind of bogus statistic is that? At least give an hourly cunsumption or mileage not some made up meaningless number.

Long live the Japanese tin can. You've come a long way Toyota, your Corolla of today far surpasses what I first encountered when they first were being imported. Test drove one last year, amazing what performance you got out of a 1800 cc engined car, compared to a 2000 cc Ford Focus that had a weird herky-jerky feel with a kind of gutless acceleration. Went for the Prius though, it's the next generation.

speaking of chevy, I think the chevette was obviously overlooked.

^^^ my thought exactly. "Consumes 20 liters while idling"? WTF does that mean? Whoever wrote this article is a retard. Get a brain, moran!

Look out, smug levels rising.

HAve owned many Toyota's , all my cars except one (1975 Opel 1900) have been Toyota's reaching back to 1977. In my estimation Toyota has been the most sucessful marque. Why? Durability and attention to detail. My present ride, a 1998 Corolla LE, has 162,000 miles on it, gets 39 mpg day in and day out and I run it hard on superslabs and twisties.

It is hard to beat them. A friend just bought a Lexus GS AWD. Bliss......

What about the Winnebago Trailmaster?

I thought Hot Wheels were the best-selling cars of all time. Better than Matchbox anyway. Tonka is way behind. I have more than 50 Hot Wheels, about a dozen Matchbox, but only one Tonka. No Corgis either. And I'm only one person.

White slug bug no slug bug back!

Steve, your correct about Oldsmobile, they also had turbo cars in the 50's and optional airbags in the 70's....
I think there's a huge difference in the needs of car owners between the US and Europe. I mean, when we go on a road trip, we go.... 1000 miles to go see a band is nothing, plus most of the US has no decent public transit, I think this increases the demand for better cars. Who would want to spend a 2 hour a day commute in a Citreon?

In Europe 100 miles is really far, In the US 100 years is really old.

I liked the Tomy Pocket Cars. They should bring back Pocket Games, cars and the like. Fashions may change, but pockets they stay the same.

Has anyone ever really had to deal with a Volkswagen? I must have had a lemon my experience was a nightmare.

I love lamp

"So far 25 million vehicles of the F series was sold, however, the mentioned urge for oil will probably stand in its way of setting new records."
Holy BatCrap! What tense is this?

No Mustang?

Why didn't the Ford Pinto make the list?

Two VW's and no Mustang?? Please, they have less than 10% marketshare in the measured market. Glad to see no crappy GM's in there.

"In Europe 100 miles is really far, In the US 100 years is really old." I would have to agree with you on that one. Given how sparsely populated the united states is compared to europe, a nationwide mass transit that comes anywhere near the efficiency and effectiveness of the european system would be impossible. Hence, the cars. But we are going to start paying for a lack of mass transit in the next twenty years with the pains of making a sharp transition away from private transportation and into public.

The text does sound a little odd, but how many of us speak the author's language?

/I speak American!

I pour a hot pint of oil over my waffles every morning. It's been proven that lubricated things live longer.

hey no love for the camaro which holds a bigger engine and packs a way bigger punch stock than any mustang could ever dream of? ah the pony era returns. Also why are europeans so smug? must be jealousy for North America having better cars.

The comment about the F-series truck consuming '20 liters' while idling is a poor one, indeed.
In Europe, mileage is measured by how many liters of fuel are used to move the vehicle 100 kilometers. (So now you know!)
Typically the fuel mileage of a car is quoted as XXl/100km, but often the /100km is left off and it's assumed you understand that it's supposed to be there.
A car that uses 20 liters per 100 kilometers is a true gas-guzzler- not in league with economy cars of today (it's about 12mpg- USgal).
The author's statement that the F-series' mileage goes to 20l/100km at idle(!) is rediculous- the car isn't moving, so the 100km will never be covered.

So... the F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, F-650, and F-750 all count as a single model? Thats the exact opposite of why the iMacs were never the 'best selling computer' (because each color was a 'different' computer.)

So.... this article does not discuss the methodology behind controlling for population and levels of prosperity. I am assuming that if you applied those two controls; the Beetle and Model-T would go head to head.

Explanation for the dummies: The newer cars are going to naturally have sold more often just due to the fact that there are more people on the face of the earth, and those people will have had more money than those in the early 19 hundreds.

In Summary, I agree with everyone else that this author is a nitwit, and I hope that he wasn't paid for this rubbish.

If it were based on a ratio of cars to population, I'm sure the Model-T would win hands down.

But elegant simplicity of the good ol' VW Beetle just can't be beat!

Now, what about the Edsel? Or the Pinto (exploding
gas tanks got popular for a while)?

I had a '72 Corolla(in '76).....was jealous of friends with the Datsun 510.Now there was a great rally car!

This has got to be the BIG prize winner:

"Most ignorant of subject" - to the writer
"Worst use of the English language" - to the writer
"Most offensive attempt yet at 'factualizing' American cars for Americans by Europeans" - to the writer

"Grammar award (enough said)" - to the writer

"Fact basis means nothing award" - to the writer

"Worst decision of the year" - to AutoMotoPortal for employing the writer

Most non-informative and useless blog of the year - to AutoMotoPortal, who should, in the future consider both studying (real) history and developing a somewhat normal level of coherency before attempting to cash in on the big buck/big ego internet blog phenom.

This sales based comparison is misleading because it ignores the size of the buying population. The US population during the time of the Model T was about 100 million - it's now near 300 million - so the correct comparison would be 3 X 16.5m (49.5 m) for the Model T vs 25 m for the F series.

Why isn't the J-body (Cavalier/Sunfire) on this list? It was GM's best selling car for the last two and a half decades and it was unbeaten in bang for the buck.

I love Golf II

How is the beetle the #1 selling car on history when the corolla has sold 14 million MORE units than it? 21 million vs 35 million?

Technology and creativity has far advance in the european market place thus giving euro cars the edge. Regardless of what volumes have sold outside internationally.

There are many type od corolla that why it is best selling. Japanese Corolla is not the same as US corolla.

I'm sorry...please explain how the north american market is the most important in the world. I can only assume it to be one of the less important in terms of the development of cars, due to the fact that american buyers seem content to buy american cars which are ugly, handle terribly, are poorly made and severely underpowered considering the size of their engines.

To get a half way decent car you need to buy European or Japanese.

This article might be better named "The most successful brands/marques." The Toyota, Golf, and Ford truck hardly qualify as unique designs that persisted through the years; for all intents each major design or engineering change starts the counter all over again. On the other hand, throughout their production runs the Model T and Beetle didn't need name badges to be recognized by the average Joe. The fact that I can attach an early '50s Beetle body to one of the last Mexican-produced chassis shows how enduring, unique, and year-to-year unchanged the Beetle is.

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