Just recently Toyota took over as the top seller of vehicles in the world. The company, which has been around for about as long as GM had been the #1 car seller in the world, finally edged out GM by selling 8.972 million vehicles compared to GM’s puny 8.356. This handover was predicted last year and solidified by a sales drop of 10.8% at GM, so no one is surprised, but a lot of people are happy.
But why are they happy? I’m sure there are lots of reasons, including Toyota’s quality, hip-factor, and the Prius effect. There’s no questioning that Toyota led the push for hybrid cars around the world with the Prius, but let’s be real, that cars makes up a very small percentage of total sales, and it’s likely Toyota sells at least one of the above Highlander tanks for every Prius that rolls off the lot.
To illustrate the gap between the perception of Toyota as a fuel efficient automaker (at least in the US) and the truth, let’s take a look at CNN’s list of the top 10 manufacturers by fuel economy:
1. MINI — 27.66 average mpg, 12 cars
2. Honda — 23.81 average mpg, 27 cars
3. Chevrolet — 23.36 average mpg, 88 cars
4. Lotus — 22.33 average mpg, 3 cars
5. VW — 22.21 average mpg, 28 cars
6. Pontiac — 22.20 average mpg, 24 cars
7. Saturn — 22.14 average mpg, 21 cars
8. Kia — 21.80 average mpg, 20 cars
9. Suzuki — 21.77 average mpg, 18 cars
10. Toyota — 21.60 average mpg, 55 cars
