For curiosity sake, let us discover which vehicle that does not wear the Toyota badge is the best seller. Sure, a lot of brands throughout the years want to beat out what the Japanese brand has to offer but they have failed. Let us see who is the best seller per year.
PER BRAND
When it comes to a per brand basis, Mitsubishi had four cars as the best selling non-Toyota spread throughout ten years. When it comes to actual per brand ranking, it has always played the second place but became number one in 1998 and three in both 2006 and 2007. From 2010 onward, the best selling non-Toyota belonged to a Mitsubishi with one vehicle continuing the streak (although another Three Diamond model supplanted later on). From 1990 to 1993 and 1998, the brand became the best seller in the commercial vehicle segment which is wrestled between Toyota for certain years until it took the crown.
Next in line is Honda, with three of their vehicles being the best selling non-Toyota for seven years. During the late-90s, Honda claimed the title as the best seller in the passenger car segment because of one model between 1996 to 2001 until Toyota took the title later on. It became the second best selling brand overall in 2006 and 2007, beating Mitsubishi. Notably, one model spanning two generational models became a best seller, in certain years became the segment bestseller.
Isuzu had the best selling non-Toyota title for two years which played second place is due to a popular AUV model which was a hot item during its time. For Nissan, it only had one vehicle as their best seller not having a Toyota badge but that is because it was an all new model when it was launched. Despite Hyundai's and Ford's performance recently, they have yet to beat the Japs for their individual records.
PER MODEL
Launched in August 2008 as a 2009 model, the second generation Montero Sport was notable for Mitsubishi for a number of reasons: it was their best selling vehicle, the best selling mid-size SUV (and the segment as a whole) from 2009 to 2013, and the best selling non-Toyota for six years straight before passing the torch to the smaller Mirage G4 in 2016. While it had the Fortuner in its segment to battle on in its early years, newer entries from Isuzu and Ford had brought in increased competition and at the same time, provided consumers more options.
For five years, the Honda Civic in its two generation models played second place as the non-Toyota best seller and between 1999 to 2000 and 2006 to 2008 became the best seller in the compact car segment, beating the Corolla. Interestingly, the EK Civic was introduced in November 1995 as a 1996 model which became a hot item but reclaimed the title two years later while the FD Civic brought in to the country in March 2006 was similar to what its older brother did ten years ago. We may not know but the FB Civic may beat the Corolla Altis this year, in this segment that is.
Two vehicles that belong to one segment on this list became the best selling non-Toyota three times are the Isuzu Crosswind and Mitsubishi Adventure, in which they played second or third place between the Toyota Revo/Innova. So let us discuss the two vehicles individually in the next two paragraphs.
Made as an answer to the Toyota Tamaraw, the Taiwanese Mitsubishi Adventure became Mitsubishi's best seller from 1998 until 2008 (and the best selling non-Toyota for three years) and what was the brand's saving grace when it was first launched during a financial crisis that crippled the country in the late 90s.
The Isuzu Crosswind, on the other hand, proved more successful than the Hilander it replaced. and became the best selling Isuzu until the arrival of the MU-X SUV in 2015. It also became the best selling vehicle which didn't have the Toyota badge hanging. So successful no changes occurred since 2001.
Five models became the best selling non-Toyota vehicle but only once during their run, with two from Mitsubishi and Honda and the sole entry from Nissan. Most of these vehicles became best sellers when they were launched during their first (or full) model years with the exception of the Mirage G4, which took traction later on. Both the Sentra and Lancer battled with the Civic and the Corolla; the CR-V rivaled the Revo in 2003; and the City competed with the Vios (and became the best selling car in February 2009).