There`s an understanding in business that selling a lot means selling cheap. Unless you have a monopoly on the water supply, sales numbers don`t hit astronomical heights without stepping into volume pricing territory. Toyota spent the last decade worshiping that philosophy and consequently kept the Camry on top.

Given the Japanese automaker’s decade of domination, it is easy to assume that Ford will be gunning to take that position with their new Fusion sedan. After all, it’s sporting a sexy new look that’s eye-catching to say the least and before Toyota got hold of the spotlight, the Ford Taurus actually held that title between 1992 and 1996.

Despite the rivalry-ridden history, it seems Ford prefers to improve their product and walk a slightly different line by maintaining a balance that focuses a hair more on quality than volume. In fact, research by IHS Automotive suggests that the company doesn’t even have the capacity to outproduce Toyota.

It wasn’t so long ago that the Ford name brought snide remarks like “found on road dead” or “fix or repair daily” to mind. Well, we have yet to drive the 2013 Fusion, but based on what we saw at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, it’s shaping up to be a real contender.

So much so, that Ford is actually looking at increasing their production capacity. In fact interest in the car on Edmunds.com jumped 49 percent after the reveal.

Toyota will be hot on Ford’s heels, though, having recovered from the damage their production suffered after last year’s tsunami. When all is said and done, Ford will have the capacity to build 400,000 Fusions per year and Toyota will be capable of producing 500,000 Camrys. Last year the Camry took the top spot by selling just over 308,000, where the Fusion moved just over 248,000 units. Neither company is expected to maximize their capacity in the coming year.

GALLERY: 2013 Ford Fusion

[Source: Automotive News]

The Volkswagen Golf will remain the best-selling car in Europe, but here’s the real news: it keeps the crown with a whopping 484,547 units sold.

Numbers might not mean much to most people, but this will put things into perspective: at 1.6 million units worldwide, BMW stood fast as the world’s largest luxury car brand. Those are worldwide sales figures. VW came close to the half-million mark in Europe alone and with just one model.

As far as American bravado is concerned, we can’t come close to touching those numbers. The top-selling car in the U.S. was the Toyota Camry with 308,510 units. To be fair, all you need to do is delve into the popular world of pickup trucks to find that the Ford F-150 sold about 100,000 more units in the States than the Golf did in Europe, but the fact remains that Volkswagen is killing the competition with their catchy compact.

If VW has its way, the Golf will remain in the top spot for its seventh generation— set to debut at the Paris Auto Show in September. Sales actually dropped by 2 percent last year, though such fluctuations are typical towards the end of a model cycle.

Read AutoGuide’s 2011 Vw Golf Review Here

GALLERY: 2011 Volkswagen Golf

[Source: Automotive News]

There is less than a week until Christmas and if you’re looking for a gift that’s just plain bonkers we’re here to help. How about a 1991 Toyota Camry LE customized like a candy cane and decked out in what can only be described as hilarity and nonsense.

Despite the Providence, RI. seller, repeatedly insisting the car is not for sale during his advertisement, it can be had for a tiny buy-it-now price of $1.7 million on eBay. For that price it comes complete with the world’s smallest pogo stick instead of a spare tire, hopelessly goofy workout equipment on the roof, a live Boston terrier hood ornament and many other homespun features.

The price-tag might seem outrageous, but consider this: the silly Santa selling the car might actually be ahead of safety innovators like Volvo. His creation sports functional fashion: stripes that boast “900 candlepower” to make sure you not only see the car day or night, but that you’re as good as blind while driving behind it. If you get hit in this thing it’s probably intentional.

Not only that, but the car runs on insanity instead of gas— “eat your heart out, GM,” the seller says in his video. It’s probably true because you would have to be crazy to bid on this thing, or would you?

Right now there are 23 bids for the car, which is currently fetching $2025. Sure it falls short of the price tag, but what value can you really put on a car that really is unforgettable? The answer is just around the corner. Rhode Island’s funniest car will disappear from eBay on December 22 and we’re eagerly watching to see what people are willing to pay.

GALLERY: Candy Cane Toyota Camry

Watch the video below:

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Kelly Blue Book Released their list of the 20 most researched vehicles and three of the top five spots belong the Honda products. The Civic and Accord placed first and second respectively, with the Toyota Camry in third, the Honda CR-V in fourth and the Ford F-150 in fifth.

The Hyundai Sonata and Elantra placed sixth and seventh respectively, with the Elantra cracking the top 20 for the first time. The top five brands overall were Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chevrolet and Hyundai, with the Toyota Prius as the sole hybrid on the list. Check out the full list below, after the jump.

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The all-new 2012 Toyota Camry has received a five-star composite safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The redesigned 2012 Camry was able to achieve the five-star rating despite the NHTSA’s new, more rigorous testing procedure that’s targeted to raising the bar for overall vehicle safety.

Featuring a reinforced body structure that utilizes high-strength steel, the new Camry is able to withstand cabin deformity during certain severe collisions as well as absorb impact energies and as a result, help enhance occupant safety. Other features include 10 standard airbags, Toyota’s Star Safety System – which includes Vehicle Stability Control, Traction Control, Anti-Lock Braking System, Electronic Brake-Force Distribution, and Brake Assist – and Smart Stop brake-override technology. And as with all newer vehicles, the 2012 Camry will come equipped with tire pressure monitoring system as standard.

An optional feature available to the new Camry is Toyota’s Blind Spot Monitor, just another form of technology that Toyota is continuing to develop in order to help raise vehicle safety standards throughout their models.

The South Korean auto market has long been dominated by domestic automakers like Hyundai and Kia, but Toyota is planning to make a play by sending 6,000 American-built Camrys to South Korea.

Deliveries will begin starting in January, 2012. Toyota has been exporting the Sienna minivan since November, and also sells the Corolla, Prius and RAV4. Toyota is evidently looking to take advantage of a new free-trade agreement signed between the U.S. and South Korea, as well as take advantage of favorable exchange rates between Korea and the U.S.

Our big question is, with Korean cars (especially Camry competitors like the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima) so good noawadays, why would any Korean consumers even bother buying them.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

12. Toyota Camry

While automakers and outside research firms publish sales figures and earnings reports on a regular basis, one metric we rarely get a glimpse of is how profitable each vehicle is. In an era of re-badging and platform sharing, one would think that the most profitable vehicles are those with a large number of derivatives to spread the cost around. But a new report from Bernstein Research suggests that two factors – price point and volume – are the keys to making big bucks off vehicles. And judging by the list, longevity seems to help as well.

Number 12 on the list is the Toyota Camry, and for good reason. The Camry has a number of factors in its favor – massive volumes, an accessible price point and its made in America (currency fluctuations, particularly a rise in the euro or yen, can make exports unprofitable). Bernstein’s report notes that high volume cars at a medium price point are one of the keys to profitability, and the Camry might be the textbook definition of this formula. The Camry’s twin, the Lexus ES350, was absent from the list, but no doubt earns its keep, as a gilded version of the Camry.

Toyota‘s new styling chief, Dezi Nagaya, wants to abandon the company’s previous conservative design language for a new direction that is “…more dynamic, more masculine, sportier, with a more obvious design theme and a face to represent the company and the brand.”

Nagaya’s challenge comes with creating a unified styling language that can span everything from the Land Cruiser to the Camry to the upcoming Scion FR-S, which will be sold as the Toyota FT-86 in Japan. Nagaya said that Toyota will adjust how aggressive their vehicles look, with volume models sticking to a relatively conservative direction while models like the FT-86 would be much more exciting.

Nagaya was previous responsible for the second generation Toyota Prius and the Lexus L-Finesse design language.

[Source: Automotive News]

Most people’s conception of tuner cars are brightly colored Honda Civics or other econoboxes with underbody neon lights, not to mention the requisite loud muffler.

But this heavily modified Toyota Camry has enough horsepower on hand to beat down nearly anything on four wheels, without giving away anything visually.

This mid-1990s Toyota Camry has a specially designed turbocharger setup mated to its 3.0L V6, with a giant T51 turbocharger helping to crank out the astronomical power figures. Check out the video below to see the Camry doing its thing on a dyno.

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“All we know so far is what included in the agency’s statement,” said Toyota spokesman Liu Peng in an interview yesterday. “We are looking into the issue and will try to clarify the facts.”

Automobile ownership is steadily increasing, causing China’s government to increase efforts to control vehicle quality. Collisions have also spiked 36 percent to 3.9 million accidents in 2010, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

[Source: Left Lane News]