Toyota released its first quarter sales numbers today, which sit above both General Motors and Volkswagen, though it is a tight race. 

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10. Chevy Impala: 14M units sold

The numbers are always changing and a new list of the Top 10 best-selling vehicles in history, compiled by 24/7 Wall St. has a new model on top.

There are some surprises on the list, but for the most part it all makes sense. Whether they’ve been in production for a long time or they’re reasonably priced worldwide, the top 10 best-selling cars of all time might not be the most exciting, but are clearly the most popular throughout history.

The Chevrolet Impala is the only GM vehicle on the list and has quite the history since hitting the market 54 years ago. Starting its life as a large two-door performance coupe, the Impala evolved into a versatile sedan. Or as we like to call it, a rental car. Ironically, it isn’t actually offered as a coupe anymore, which seems like a distant memory after 10 generations of upgrades.

Despite having faced criticism by hard hitting publications in recent years, Toyota appears to have redeemed itself somewhat with Consumer Reports, at least as far as the 2012 Camry is concerned.

The latest version of Toyota’s best selling mid-size car, which went on sale back in October, was evaluated by CR for it’s February 2012 issue where it drew favorable comments.

Among them was,”the [2012] Camry has a nicer interior, more responsive handling, and better fuel economy than before,” while in another paragraph the magazine remarked that in terms of fuel mileage, “the [Camry] four-cylinder model’s 27 mpg overall ties with the Hyundai Sonata for the best fuel economy among conventional gasoline-powered family sedans.”

The news is no doubt welcomed by Toyota, for since 2007, Consumer Reports has been keeping a scrutinous eye on the automaker’s products following issues it discovered on the Toyota Tundra full-size pickup, the previous generation V6 powered Camry and Lexus GS luxury sedan.

Given that other media reviews of the 2012 Camry so far have tended to be favorable, along with modern America’s attraction to boring cars, there’s every indication that the latest model will help the nameplate retain its position as the best-selling car in the US.

Given that Toyota’s highly publicized recalls and more recent supplier problems caused by natural disasters in Asia  seem to have been largely rectified, it looks like 2012 could shape up to be a much better year for the Japanese automaker than the last three have been.

Read Autoguide’s 2012 Camry Review here.