Best Selling Cars

24 September, 2011

We all know theres a few different types of popular. For example, Louis Vuitton bags are extremely popular. Everyone and their mom, and their grandmother, and their grandmothers cat wants a swank LV bag, but only a choice few can actually afford such a thing. So while Louis purses are popular in theory, more people probably own a swap-meet Louis than the real thing. (Even if they try to tell you otherwise when you ask. Look at the stitching; its a dead giveaway.)

Its kind of like that with cars in this graphic. These are the best-selling cars, meaning the ones that have actually been purchased in the most quantity worldwide. These are what you get when your dad takes you to the car lot and, while you drool over the sexy sports car glinting in the sun, Dad negotiates a deal for the safest, most reliable, will-protect-my-child-from-all-negative-influences-of-the-world car available. (Well, okay, some of them might be a little more fun than that.) Then again, maybe thats a poor analogy, because these arent counterfeit cars.

Ahem.

Well, lets check out our list of the most popular cars of all time:

Coming in at #10 is the Chevy Impala, a good ol American vehicle with over a million sales in the year 1964 alone. This car was the chick magnet of its day: Dad wouldnt buy you one of these. (Unless he was one of those really cool dads who was living vicariously through his kid.) With about 14 million cars sold in its existence, a really cool spread of six tail lights, and a new 2012 model on the way, the Impala is one of the stylin cars on our list.

Next up is the VW Passat, also known as the Dasher, the Santana, and the Quantum, to name a few. This German car rustled up about 14.1 million sales between 1973 and 2009, is pretty fun to say with a bad German accent, and is being investigated for multiple personality disorder and/or fugitive status, due to all its aliases. If you or someone you know has seen a Passat acting suspiciously or providing a false name, please report it to the nearest meter maid.

The Honda Accord is #8 on our list, with 15.8 million sales in its first 33 years of production. Its been the top-selling Japanese car in the United States for 15 years, ACCORD-ing to our sources. (Haha, get it?) At an original MSRP of under $4,000, its come a long way, baby, and doesnt show any signs of slowing down.

Youd be hard pressed to find a working model of the seventh best-selling car of all time: the Ford Model T. This classic car was only produced between 1908 and 1927, but sold about 16.5 million units. Back in 1914, it reached a total assembly time of 93 minutes, thanks to Henry Fords ingenuity. It sold for a whopping $366 in 1928. Well bet this car got some WWI-era tail in its day.

The third Japanese car on our list is the Civic, #6 with an estimated 17 million sales between 1972 and 2009. The Civic was the second most stolen vehicle in the US in 2010, behind its brother, the Accord. Better get a good alarm system for your Honda.

#5 is the trusty, if homely, Ford Escort: the kind that was produced in the UK between 1967 and 2003. Ford shifted the car over to the US afterhold on, Infographic, Imma let you finish, but the Ford Escort was the BEST-SELLING CAR OF ALL TIME in the UK! (Hey, Kanye-style interruption that was pretty rude of you.)

The Bug, the Love Bug, the Beetle the original VW Beetle is the #4 best-selling car ever. That model stopped production in 1979, but received a makeover as the New Beetle later. Fun fact: Hitlers Third Reich provided a lot of funding for the development of this hippie favorite. Yikes.

VW returns again on our list, coming in at #3 with the cute, compact Golf. The Golf was the first successful replacement for the Beetle, and sold about 25 million units between 1974 and 2009.

The first and only truck on our list is no small contribution: the Ford F-Series trucks are #2 with about 30 million units sold between 1948 and 2009. F-Series were the best selling trucks for 31 years, and used to cost just $1,239 in 1948.

We have a winner: the Toyota Corolla is the #1 best-selling car. Dad wouldve bought you one of these a few years agoafter all, one gets sold every 40 secondsbut have you seen the 2012 model? Its looking pretty sexy. Hello there, Corolla. Wanna go for a drive?

Well, there you have it. The best-selling cars from around the world: some beautiful, some iconic, some just downright trustworthy. We laughed, we cried, we test-drove, we bought and burned rubber out of the car lot. See you again soon for an update list, when electric cars will top the list, and people will gape at the enormous F-Series, wondering who ever felt the need to drive something so monstrous. Or instead, maybe theyll develop F-Series transformers to stomp on all the Golfs and Passats of the world. That remains to be seen.

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