Axon's Automotive Anorak: 50 years of the significantly insigificant

Aimed at the large and lucrative global export markets, and contemporary European best-sellers such as the VW Beetle, Ford Anglia, Opel Kadett and Austin 1100, the original 1966 Corolla had huge showroom appeal with pleasing ‘Euro’ styling (believed to be the work of one of the leading Italian design houses of the time, but never confirmed by Toyota), plus a generous standard specification at an attractive price.

In 1966, Japanese cars had still to make a serious impact in the established export automotive markets of North America, Europe, African, and Australasia, with the likes of Toyota and Datsun/Nissan still taking their first tentative steps into these important sales regions.

The first-generation 1966 Corolla gave Toyota its first serious export product offering, with the small-ish saloon quickly winning new friends the world over. By 1974, just eight years after launch, the Toyota Corolla had become the world’s best-selling new car, with the model remaining one of the all-time highest-selling cars ever since.

In fact, by 1997, and ten generations in, the Corolla had become the world’s best-selling passenger car nameplate of all time, overtaking the venerable Volkswagen Beetle in the process. In July 2013, Toyota sold its 40 millionth Corolla, sold across 11 generations of the model!

As if proof were needed, the astonishing popularity of the Toyota Corolla illustrates that the vast majority of the motoring world has little to zero interest in cars and driving, favouring dependable but bland value-for-money transportation over engaging driving dynamics and style.

I’m not going to argue the point with 40 million+ new Corolla buyers (roughly the total population of Algeria), but the model’s outstanding sales success must rank it as the most significant of any insignificant car ever made in motoring history. In my personal opinion (which matters not a jot), the VW Beetle is one of the most despicable cars that ever existed, but for all of its failings, at least it had some character, unlike most Corollas.

This may be a little harsh on the Toyota, as at least some interesting derivatives of the Corolla with enthusiast appeal have been built over the last 50 years and 11 generations. Take the rear-wheel-drive 16-valve Twin Cam Coupe, based on the fifth-generation E80 Corolla model, which has become a cult classic with the drifting set.

The same applies to the SR Coupe version of the second-generation E20 model, as well as the sporting Corolla Levin and Sprinter/Trueno derivatives, sold in the domestic Japanese market, plus some Asian export destinations. The sixth-generation late 1980s Corolla GTi hot hatch was also quite an entertaining drive too, though no real threat to the contemporary Golf or Peugeot 306 GTi models.

Today, various versions and market-specific body types of the current 11th-generation E160/E170 Corolla remain strong sellers around the globe. In the UK and certain European markets though, the Corolla nameplate was quietly withdrawn around 2009 when the Corolla Verso people carrier was replaced by the current Verso model. Needless to say, the demise of the Corolla nameplate passed unreported… Here’s to the next 50 years of dependable but dull transportation!