Thursday Trivia

Welcome to Thursday Trivia where we offer up a historical automotive trivia question and you try and solve it before seeing the answer after the jump. It’s like a history test, with cars!
This week’s question: What was the highest global market share that a single model has ever achieved?
If you think you know the answer, make the jump and see if you are correct.
We talked a couple of weeks back about production numbers, and how, owing to its longevity and ubiquity, the Honda Cub has earned the title of highest production motorized transportation device. But what about the greatest amount of market that one particular model has held in its possession at one time?
In 2013 the world’s top selling car was Toyota’s Corolla. The company moved 1.22 million Corollas that year, which is a ton of them. Still, that huge number comprises only 1.47% of the overall global sales, which in 2013 totaled a staggering 82.8 million. Less than 2%, and that’s the global sales leader. Of course, this comes at a time when the automotive market is rife with solid competitors and while the pie is huge, the slices of it are relatively small.
At one time however, the market was much smaller, as were the number of competitors able to vie for the sales crown. That resulted in one model dominating the market, not only in sales, but in the percentage of cars on the world’s roads.
From Anything About Cars:

In 1916, 55 percent of the cars in the world were Model T Fords, a record that has never been beaten.

Other categories have seen even greater dominance of a single player – Microsoft’s Windows in computer operating systems, the iPod in music players, and Hooniverse in quality automotive information delivery. However, considering the diversity in the automotive market today, it’s somewhat staggering to think that at one time every other car that you’d see on the road would likely be one of Henry’s Tin Lizzies.
Image: Hemmings