Sound Familiar? In Japan Toyota, Honda were top sellers in first half of fiscal '01

A story in Japan Times reported that Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. were the clear leaders in terms of best-selling vehicles in the Japanese market in the first half of fiscal 2001, an industry association said Thursday.

Five Toyota models and four of Honda's dominated the top-10 list of best-selling vehicles, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.

The Toyota Corolla topped the list with an 87.1 percent surge in sales from the April-September period last year to 120,153 units. Honda's Step WGN minivan took second place with 66,548 units, up 70.5 percent.

Third went to Toyota's Vitz compact, which sold 65,849 units, down 7.2 percent.

Toyota's other leading models included its Estima minivan in fifth place, the Ipsum minivan in seventh place, and the Crown sedan in eighth.

Honda's Fit, a compact that has grown in popularity since its debut in June, came in sixth. The automaker's Stream minivan, which debuted in October last year, took fourth, while its Odyssey minivan ended up in 10th.

The only model not made by Toyota or Honda to make it into the top 10 was Nissan Motor Co.'s Cube, a compact wagon-type car, which came in ninth.