Despite production freezes and parts shortages, the humble Toyota Corolla achieved a spectacular milestone last year when the total number of Corollas built crossed the 50 million mark.
Nobody, however, was surprised the Corolla achieved such dizzying heights – it is, after all, the world’s most popular vehicle and Toyota has been reliably churning out over a million of them every year across its global production network for quite a while now.
Its appeal is almost universal, and whether in hatchback, sedan, coupe, wagon – and now SUV – form, there’s seemingly a Corolla variant that’s the ‘right fit’ for pretty much every market on the planet. However, its time as the world’s most beloved new car is on the verge of ending, and last year could have very well been its final year of sales dominance.
In 2021, around 1,312,500 Corollas rolled out of Toyota’s showrooms. That’s a tally that would be the envy of any manufacturer, and it also signalled the end of a slow slide in sales that’s been happening over the past half-decade. The last time Corolla sales breached the 1.3 million mark was 2015, and sales have dipped into the 1.2M and 1.1M zones since then. In 2020 Corolla sales were recorded at 1,178,400 – hardly a bad number, and one arguably impacted by COVID-related issues, but a backwards move nevertheless.
Corolla sales bounced back over 1.3M last year, which is the good news, but while the Corolla spent the previous five years gradually slipping in popularity, another Toyota model was creeping up on its throne during that time – the RAV4.
In 2021 the RAV4 pushed past the 1 million global sales mark, the first time that model has achieved that milestone, recording a total of 1,010,000 units sold. What’s more, if you chart its growth then it’s easy to see that it could jump ahead of its sibling, the Corolla, and that the crossover point could occur this year or the next.
In 2015, the year before Corolla sales numbers began to stagnate and slip, 669,200 RAV4s were sold across the globe. That puts the RAV4’s average annual sales growth since then at roughly 56,000 units. However, that’s just an average – its biggest single-year jump in that period occurred in 2019 when sales topped 965,800 units, a whopping 126,400 units more than the year prior.
If the Corolla has another soft year like 2020 and the RAV4 sees another bumper crop of six-digit sales growth, it’s entirely conceivable that the two models could swap positions either this year or sometime in 2023. It seems strange to think of the venerable Corolla as anything but a top-seller, but every king must step down at some point. It’s a sign of the times too – SUVs have been surging in popularity around the world, and the current-generation RAV4 also happens to be one of the best in its segment. Having good product in a booming segment is definitely a recipe for sales success. Meanwhile, the popularity of small cars like the Corolla continues to erode.
Two things may extend the Corolla’s leadership, however. For one, RAV4 sales have been hampered by ongoing issues with microchip supply, especially hybrid variants – which are the ones everyone seems to want these days. Secondly, the arrival of the Corolla Cross takes the Corolla nameplate into the SUV realm, and it’s still rolling out across global markets (it’ll be arriving here late in 2022). The effect of that model on total Corolla sales could be huge, but it could also merely substitute sales of regular Corolla hatches and sedans. We’ll have to wait and see.
What of other rivals though? What other cars are global top-sellers?
Ford’s F-series range of trucks, underpinned by the ever-popular F-150, is a carryover champ when it comes to US sales, dominating charts in that country despite its size, fuel consumption and cost. In 2021, 726,004 F-Series trucks were sold in the USA (with more in Canada and Latin America bringing its total tally closer to the million mark), though that’s not enough to challenge the Corolla’s position as global top dog.
In Europe, it’s the Volkswagen Golf that reigns supreme in the showroom, though from Slovenia to Ireland it only accounted for 205,408 sales in 2021. Again, global sales would boost that figure, though not by enough to come close to the Corolla.
Meanwhile at Toyota’s rival Hyundai, a similar transition is about to occur. For 2021, the South Korean company sold 212,904 examples of the i30 hatch and i30 sedan/Elantra/Avante. However the Kona, Hyundai’s small SUV offering, was nipping at the i30’s heels by the end of the year with 204,573 worldwide sales. While the Corolla might cling on as Toyota’s most popular model for another year or so, it appears almost guaranteed that Hyundai’s top-seller will no longer be a small hatch and sedan after 2022 is done and dusted.
Keyword: Is the Toyota Corolla about to be knocked off as the world's best-selling car?