We like to spend each Friday reviewing "What the World Drives." Now it looks like we might start a new series of posts - "What the World Steals."

From the land of Borscht and vodka comes the latest stolen car statistics out of Moscow.


Moscow police statistics on cars stolen in 2007 are in. Last year, the Toyota Corolla edged out the Volkswagen Passat as the most frequently stolen car in the Russian capital. In third place was the Toyota Avensis. The police data do not correspond to insurance company statistics, which show expensive Lexus and Porsche model to be the most liable to theft.

There were 13,675 incidents of car theft in Moscow in 2007, a drop of 5.1 percent from 2006. Car theft was up last year in the southeastern and western districts of the city, by 9.3 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Police say that, in the southeast of Moscow, the rise is related to the high incidence of crime in the area and, in the west, to the high density of elite housing.

The rest of the top ten most stolen cars list, in descending order, is: VAZ 2114, VAZ 2112, Mitsubishi Lancer, Mazda 6, Toyota Camry, Vaz 2115 and VAZ 21074.

vaz 2112