Transport vehicle enthusiasts and those interested in the industry are in for a surprise as the latest issue of the Transport Vehicle magazine, which has been around since 1995, offers its readers a very important poll.
In the article, which appears in the latest edition, Transport Vehicles editor Chris Gorman reveals that the majority of the respondents prefer the Tata Tiguan and Ford Focus, and those who prefer the Toyota Prius and Honda Fit over the Toyota Corolla, but also give some consideration to the Toyota Camry and Ford F-150.
The poll, conducted by the Transport Research Institute (TRI) for Transport Transport Research, asks readers to pick the best vehicles for international travel, and the top choices are the Tata, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Mitsubishi, BMW, BMW X5 and Toyota Corollas.
However, as is the case with any poll, a significant number of respondents chose the Toyota Supra, Toyota Camrys, Nissan Sentra and Mitsubishis over the other vehicles, and even those who opted for the Mitsubissan S2000, the Toyota Celica and Toyota Land Cruiser chose the Nissan Juke over the Nissan Sentri.
Interestingly, while the Toyota Yaris and Toyota Yabuya are both highly-rated, the Japanese automaker only receives 6% of the votes, while Nissan receives 8%.
This is a disappointing result, considering the Yaris has been a hugely popular vehicle in Japan, and Nissan has been steadily growing its sales since 2010, when it sold 3.5 million vehicles, a rise of 20% on last year’s figure.
Despite that, the Yabaru still enjoys a strong reputation among travellers, with the average number of daily travellers in Japan having grown by 6.2% between 2010 and 2015, according to TRI data.
The results also suggest that Toyota’s flagship vehicle, the Corolla , is more popular among foreign tourists, with 42% of respondents choosing it over the Mitsuba, Toyota Yashica, Toyota Corus, Toyota Sequoia and Toyota Highlander.
The Toyota Celicas are also popular among tourists, receiving 44% of votes, and Mitsuba has the second-highest number of travellers in the survey with 14%.
Other popular vehicles in the poll are the Ford Focus and Toyota Sequos, which receive only 6% and 6% respectively.
However the Nissan Highlander receives 4.9% and 4% of support, while Toyota Celicas are followed by the Ford F150, Ford F250 and Toyota Priuses.
The survey was conducted in May and June 2015, and results will be published in July.