Toyota Questions Polk’s Statistics, Says Corolla Beat Focus as World’s Best-Selling Car

Toyota says its Corolla compact car was the world’s best-selling vehicle in 2012, not the Ford Focus, as the U.S. carmaker said yesterday citing R.L. Polk & Co.’s global new vehicle registration data for the full-year 2012.

Ford said it sold 1.02 million Focus vehicles last year topping the Toyota Corolla, which was attributed sales of 872,774 units. The Japanese carmaker’s was quick to contradict its rival.

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Ford Focus Was the World’s Best-Selling Car in 2012, Says Polk

Ford Focus ranks as the best-selling vehicle nameplate in the world, according to Polk’s global new vehicle registration data for the full-year 2012. Sales of the compact car totaled 1,020,410 cars worldwide, according to the automotive data and trends forecasting supplier.

Ford’s “global car” recorded market gains in China and the United States, with China registrations up 51 percent last year. Put into context, that means more than 1 in 4 Ford Focus vehicles sold worldwide went to China. In the U.S., Focus sales were up 40 percent in 2012.

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Continental EU Recession Seems far Away from UK Where Sales Are Up 5.9 Percent in March

The automotive sector in Europe has been hard-hit by the failing continental economy, with all manufacturers announcing some form of measures designed to alleviate the extra strain put on their operations. Factories are closing down, dealers are going out of business and people are buying less new metal than they did a few years back, and the new cars they are turning to are cheaper and smaller than most would have preferred. Read more »

"Lost in Thought" Drivers Cause More Accidents than Those Using Mobile Phones, Says Study

Latest police data in the United States reveal some surprising statistics. It seems that the use of mobile phones while driving, blamed by many as one of the leading causes of traffic accidents, is not as harmful as being “lost in thought” or simply put, daydreaming.

Ten percent of fatal auto accidents in the States involved at least one motorist who was distracted, according to a statement by Erie Insurance Group that analyzed 2010 and 2011 national crash data from NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The causes of the distraction in 62 percent of the cases was daydreaming and being “lost in thought”, with mobile phone use being blamed in only 12 percent of the accidents caused by distracted drivers.

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Ford Leads the Way in Customer Loyalty – GM and Chrysler Are Close Behind

Ever since Japanese automakers began selling their endlessly-reliable and durable cars in the US (and around the world), domestic manufacturers began losing millions of sales. The trend had been going on for many years, but it seems that the Big Three US automakers are on the rebound in their home market. Read more »

Japanese Study Finds that One in Three EV Owners Would Not Buy Another

We have been told time and again that the Japanese are among the world leaders when it comes to the adoption of EVs and green alternative means of transportation in general. However, it seems that not even they are enjoying the benefits of all-electric driving, and according to a recent study, one in three EV owners would not buy a new one. Read more »