Corolla Zips Past Model-T at 15 Million

Toyota Motor Corp.’s Corolla has passed Ford’s Model-T to become the second best-selling car in history with over 15 million produced, a company spokesman said today.

A total of 15,040,200 Corollas were made in the 23 years and six months ended June 30, 1990. That tops the 15,007,033 Model-T cars made by the Ford Motor Co.

The mid-priced Corolla, despite its simple styling and lack of flash, has been popular throughout the world for its practical appeal and fuel efficiency.

A similar formula helped the Ford Model-T become a dominant car in its day. The sturdy black Ford was the standard American vehicle in the early days of automobiles, and for many years held the title of best-seller. It was made for 19 years, from 1908 to 1927.

But the Volkswagen Beetle remains the best-selling vehicle of all time, another car without much flair but which held practical appeal to generations of car buyers. About 20,751,070 Beetles were made in the 50-plus years, from 1938 to the end of last month that it has been produced.

Toyota is Japan’s leading car maker and the world’s third biggest in sales after General Motors Corp. and Ford.