Refining the World's Best Selling Car

You never know who you're going to meet on the plane. Traveling back from an event put on by Toyota to test the upcoming 2005 Corolla, I met a lifer. A what? Deborah

In a funny coincidence, on the plane ride home from the Toyota press event I sat beside a Corolla lifer. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

bought her first Corolla when she was fresh out of high school, and now a successful 39 (ahem) year old clothing importer on her way to Hong Kong, she's on her third Corolla. Yeah, I can do math too. That's just over seven years of faithful service per car, all of which were running well when she sold them. Time is about right for a new one, and despite the fact that Deborah can easily afford a more expensive luxury car and regularly gets ribbed by her boss about her plebian choice of transportation (who'll be hardly laughing when his $70K VW Touareg is off

Corolla buyers are a very faithful bunch, which has made the car the "number one nameplate by sales in world automotive history." (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

to the shop to fix yet another problem), she's not about to change alliances. Deborah's story isn't unusual of course. Glowing testimonies of the venerable economy car are common, reason enough why the Corolla has become a favorite among Canadian car buyers over the years and the "number one nameplate by sales in world automotive history," according to Stephen Beatty, Managing Director, Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI). And just how many years is that? The Corolla has been available in our country for 38 years now, almost as long as Toyota Canada has been in existence (40 as of May 6th).