Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

Toyota Corolla XI (Japanese version): still ahead worldwide.

* See the Top 200 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Austin *

Now that we have gone through the worldwide February ranking in detail, the year-to-date updates designed to extract longer-term trends are back! Like in 2012 the Toyota Corolla takes the lead over the Ford Focus, but just: 164,463 sales vs. 161,998… Note the Corolla figure includes the 9th, 10th and 11th generations but not the Corolla hatch/Auris while the Focus figure includes the 2nd and 3rd generation, both in hatch, sedan and station wagon formats. The Hyundai Elantra is also faithful to its 2012 third position over the period thanks to 141,061 units sold while the Ford F-Series is up one spot to #4 and the VW Passat up 2 to #5.

The Renault Clio/Symbol is #26 worldwide so far in 2013 vs. #33 in 2012.

Boosted by an out-of-this-world third place in February, the Wuling Hongguang is now #6 year-to-date in 2013 with 111,861 sales which is already one third of its total sales for 2012 when it ranked #57 worldwide… The VW Polo/Vento is up 3 ranks compared to 2012 at #8, the VW Jetta and Suzuki Swift/DZire are both up 6 to #13 and #14 respectively, the VW Lavida is up a whopping 61 spots to #20 solely thanks to its #1 passenger car ranking in China, the Chevrolet Silverado is up 7 to #21, Nissan Sentra/Sylphy/Pulsar/Tsuru up 30 to #25 and the Renault Clio/Symbol is up 7 to #26.

The Hyundai Santa Fe is up from #90 in 2012 to #54 so far in 2013

Further down, notice the ChangAn Minibus up 33 ranks on its Full Year 2012 ranking to #31, the Ford Fusion/Mondeo up 36 to #32, Wuling Rongguang up 8 to #34, Kia Forte/Cerato/K3 up 9 to #36, Nissan Altima/Teana/Maxima up 13 to #38, Renault Duster up 17 to #44, Toyota Prius C up 10 to #48, Hyundai Santa Fe up 26 to #54, Honda NBOX up 30 to #64, Peugeot 208 up 24 to a still shy #66, BYD F3 up 54 to #72, Ford Explorer up 30 to #76 and the Nissan Note up a huge 95 spots to #79.

Previous post: World February 2013: Wuling Hongguang up to #3!

Discover the Top 1000 best-selling cars in the world in 2012 here

Full 2 months 2013 Top 200 models Ranking Table below.

Read more…

Wuling Hongguang

* See the Top 200 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Austin *

It always takes a little longer to gather worldwide data and for February we have the rare addition of Thailand to make the ranking ever closer to official figures. And strong Thailand sales push the Toyota Corolla ahead of the Ford Focus like in 2012 both this month with 78,631 sales vs. 75,723 for the Focus and year-to-date at 164,463 units vs. 161,998. Still extremely close though. Note this figure excludes Corolla hatch/Auris sales. Massive event this month: even though it is only sold in China (for now), the Wuling Hongguang manages to land in third position worldwide thanks to a record 64,096 sales. That’s 500 more than 3 generations of Hyundai Elantra managed to sell all over the world – this should not take away from the excellent score of the Korean model though but just gives a bit of perspective.

Suzuki Swift DZire

A few other models shine this month in the world ranking: the Ford F-Series is up to a fantastic 5th position at 62,937 units, the Suzuki Swift/DZire is up 9 spots to brilliantly breaks into the worldwide Top 10 at #10 with a huge 48,557 sales (78% of which achieved in India alone), the Chevrolet Silverado is up 12 to #14, the Renault Clio/Symbol up 10 to #21, Ford Fusion/Mondeo also up 10 to #23, Ford Escape/Kuga up 13 to #33, Toyota Prius C up 12 to #40 and passing the Toyota Prius again (#41), Renault Duster up 3 to #42 and the Toyota RAV4 up 7 to #48.

Previous month: World January 2013: Focus ahead of Corolla, VW Lavida #14

Discover the Top 1000 best-selling cars in the world in 2012 here

Full February 2013 Top 200 models Ranking Table below.

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The Nissan Qashqai strikes again…

* See the Full article by clicking on the title! *

As promised yesterday it’s a fast turnaround to give you the World March roundup. In February the Nissan Qashqai was the worldwide star of the month, and in March, well don’t take this the wrong way but…

Alright so France is under the spotlight this month, not so much for the market’s performance, struggling as much as the rest of Europe, but for two historical events: in the Light Commercial Vehicle ranking, not usually the subject of much talk in my monthly roundups, an import takes the lead for the first time ever: the Fiat Ducato is #1 with 2,777 sales and 8.4% share. In the Passenger Cars ranking, the Nissan Qashqai (well well…) is only the 2nd Japanese model to manage to ever crack the monthly French Top 10 at #9 with 3,381 sales and 2% share. The only other one is the Toyota Yaris which did so in January and March 2007.

Fiat Ducato

So yes, the Qashqai is once again the star of the month, and is actually even more impressive in March than it was in February. It takes the lead year-to-date in Spain, breaks its ranking, volume and share records in Italy at #6 with 4,142 sales and 3.1%, climbs onto the podium in Austria for the very first time and lodges a 2nd consecutive month at a record #5 in the overall European models ranking with a massive 29,116 sales. Told you.

Fiat 500L

The third hero of the month is Italian, making it 2 in 3. For the first time, the Fiat 500L outsells its ‘inspiration’ the Fiat 500 at home in Italy, ranking at an outstanding 4th place. Finally the last big event worldwide happened in Australia. For the first time in the history of automobile there, the Top 4 manufacturers are 100% Asian this month (Toyota-Mazda-Nissan-Hyundai), with local manufacturer Holden relegated to 5th place and passed by Hyundai for the first time. It would be like Renault ranking 5th in France below Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota and Ford…

Previous World roundups:

World February 2013 Roundup: Nissan Qashqai pumps up the jam

World January 2013 Roundup: Low-cost range brings Renault back

World Full Year 2012 Roundup: Last Year’s Top 5 highlights

World December 2012 Roundup: Has the Chinese invasion started?

World November 2012 Roundup: When Hyundai cracked Brazil

World October 2012 Roundup: China, Japan and Austria in focus

World September 2012 Roundup: Ford Focus shines in China

World August 2012 Roundup: Subaru XV topples almighty Golf in Switzerland

World July 2012 Roundup: Geely CK writes history in Ukraine

World June 2012 Roundup: Hyundai Santa Fe and Ford Focus shine

World May 2012 Roundup: GM and Toyota Etios make headlines

World April 2012 Roundup: Maruti Swift and Mazda CX-5 impress

See the Full article below.

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Nissan Qashqai. Picture by justinvg, all rights reserved.

* See the Full article by clicking on the title! *

Better late than never I hear you say and you would be correct. Here come the much awaited February Roundup, albeit in a slightly more succinct version, with the March Roundup coming up very shortly.

Now. I’ve got three words for you this month: Qashqai, HB20 and VWChina…

I know I am going to sound like a broken record but this month (as in March as you already know) the Nissan Qashqai reaches new heights once again in Europe and so I have decided to make it the worldwide star of the month. This model hasn’t stopped turning all the traditional European car sales trends on their heads since its introduction in 2007. Whereas it is basically now 6 years old with a slight facelift, in February it hit a record 5th place in the overall European models ranking, up 4% year-on-year in a market down 10% and by far the best ranking ever reached by a Japanese model on the continent…

Hyundai HB20

In Brazil the Hyundai HB20 is up to an incredible 4th position thanks to 10,179 sales for a record 4.6% share. This is the first time a Korean model manages to sell over 10,000 monthly units and to rank within the Brazilian monthly Top 5. And this could just be the beginning… Launched exactly at the same time, the Chevrolet Onix follows at #5.

VW Lavida

For its part, Volkswagen tightens its grip on the Chinese passenger car market, placing no less than 6 models in The Top 8! The Lavida is #1, the Passat #4, Sagitar #5, Jetta #6, Tiguan #7 and Polo #8… In other news, The Nissan Leaf is up to a world-best 5th place in Norway and the new generation VW Golf is an instant success in Italy, climbing onto the third step of the podium there this month, its first time since… November 1993! It’s the reverse in Switzerland: for the 2nd month in a row and the 4th time in the last 6 months after September, October and January, the Skoda Octavia is the most popular model in the country, above the VW Golf, traditional leader there.

Previous Roundups (one year worth!):

World January 2013 Roundup: Low-cost range brings Renault back

World Full Year 2012 Roundup: Last Year’s Top 5 highlights

World December 2012 Roundup: Has the Chinese invasion started?

World November 2012 Roundup: When Hyundai cracked Brazil

World October 2012 Roundup: China, Japan and Austria in focus

World September 2012 Roundup: Ford Focus shines in China

World August 2012 Roundup: Subaru XV topples almighty Golf in Switzerland

World July 2012 Roundup: Geely CK writes history in Ukraine

World June 2012 Roundup: Hyundai Santa Fe and Ford Focus shine

World May 2012 Roundup: GM and Toyota Etios make headlines

World April 2012 Roundup: Maruti Swift and Mazda CX-5 impress

World March 2012 Roundup: Toyota Prius breaks a leg

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While Renault has nailed the low-cost formula with Dacia, prompting other manufacturers to follow suit (Nissan with Datsun and potentially Fiat with Autobianchi), on the other end of the scale, the French manufacturer is also working on ressucitating the Alpine brand, with a relaunch scheduled for 2016, over 20 years after the last Alpine rolled off the production line.

According to Australian website Motoring.com.au, the new model won’t be the same ‘monster’ as the A110-50 concept that was previewed at Monaco last year (pictured above). Instead, the new Alpine will be a true recreation of the core DNA of great models past, albeit with some ‘modern values’. The project is a joint venture between Renault and Caterham and will see two very different bodies share mutual underpinnings, but the details, so far, are a closely guarded secret.

Former Renault Sport boss and current CEO of Alpine, Bernard Ollivier says ”The new challenge is quite exciting – to re-launch the Alpine brand in a joint-venture with Alpine and Caterham – my challenge is to design two cars; [fortunately] the brands are not so different. Our objective is not to go very fast, it’s [about] pleasure in the bends.” Mr Ollivier said that unlike Porsche the priority for his car is ‘not on expense’ and that in Europe he envisages a price tag of ‘somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000 Euros’.

See the Full article below.

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Now that sales of Sandero and Logan are counted together, the model is #13 worldwide.

* See the Top 200 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Austin *

This one is coming a little late, I am slowly but surely catching up on 2013 worldwide articles after spending a bit time tracking down the Top 1000 best-selling models in 2012. While the debate is still raging as to whether the Toyota Corolla or Ford Focus was #1 in 2012 (I made my position clear on this one), in January the winner is the Ford Focus, helped by another very strong showing in China, with 85,684 sales vs. 81,415 for the Corolla. The Hyundai Elantra remains the third best-selling model in the world with an impressive 77,464 sales spanning 3 generations.

Below, the ranking gets a bit of a shuffle: the VW Passat is up to #4 at 67,440 units, followed by the VW Polo at 57,274, the Toyota Camry at 56,632 and the Ford F-Series at 55,251. There are 5 additional models managing to sell over 50,000 units this month: the Chevy Cruze, VW Golf, Nissan Tiida, Hyundai Accent and VW Jetta. As promised, I now count the Dacia/Renault Sandero and Logan together as the hatchback and sedan version of the same model, and it now appears at #13 with a whopping 49,434 sales, by (very) far the best-selling French model in the world.

Thanks solely to its performance in China, the VW Lavida is #14 worldwide in January.

Another very impressive performer this month is the VW Lavida, up from #81 over the Full Year 2012 to #14 this month thanks to a record 48,267 units sold solely in China… A particularly strong month in China lifts the Wuling Hongguang from #57 in 2012 to #15 with 47,765 sales, the ChangAn Minibus from #64 up to #21 and the Wuling Rongguang from #42 to #28.

Notice also the Nissan Sentra up from #55 in 2012 to #23 this month, the Fiat Palio/Siena up from #49 to #32, the Ford Fusion (now counted together with the Mondeo as it is the same model) up to #33, the Kia Cerato/K3 up to #34, the Renault Duster breaking into the Worldwide Top 50 at #45, the Hyundai Santa Fe doing the same at #49 vs. #80 in 2012 and the BYD F3 up from #126 in 2012 to #60 in January.

Previous post: World Full Year 2012: Toyota Corolla or Ford Focus crowned?

Discover the Top 1000 best-selling cars in the world in 2012 here

Full January 2013 Top 200 models Ranking Table below.

Read more…

We could see Autobianchi return as early as 2014!

* See the Full article by clicking on the title! *

With the progression of Chinese carmakers worldwide, the rise and rise of low-cost brands following the tremendous success of Dacia over the last decade is one of the most fascinating mega-trends in the car industry at the moment. For example, my worldwide January roundup stressed the fact that Renault is only keeping afloat worldwide due to the success of its Dacia models, and monthly Chinese rankings show both low-cost brands Baojun and Venucia are making their mark.

Autobianchi Siena?

Last week, German website Autobild announced that Fiat could revive Autobianchi as its low-cost brand. For a while Innocenti was whispered around but it now seems like Autobianchi is the go. Created in 1955, Autobianchi was always priced higher than equivalent Fiat models and was used to test innovative concepts which later found their way into mainstream Fiat vehicles. Guess that will have to change now! The brand was integrated into Lancia in 1989 but survived in Italy until 1995 when production of the Y10 stopped. More on the Autobianchi brand here.

1977 Autobianchi A112 Abarth

According to Autobild, the first Autobianchi model would be built in Poland and Russia and based on the Brazilian Fiat Siena, itself built on the previous generation Fiat Palio’s platform. It will be a notchback sedan targeted at Eastern European markets to go full frontal against the Dacia Logan, with prices starting at 5,000 Euros. Autobild says if these plans come to fruition we could see the first low-cost Autobianchi cars hitting the road in late 2014, which is not so far off!

2013 Datsun grille

These news come as Nissan has confirmed they are reviving the Datsun brand as their low-cost option, to be officially launched later this year. Plans are now getting more precise: in addition to India, Indonesia and Russia which were announced last year, in February South Africa was confirmed as the 4th market where the Datsun brand will be revived.

The first low-cost Datsun?

As far as Russia is concerned, last week Nissan Russia CEO Francois Goupil de Bouille announced that “the first Datsun cars will roll in Russian cities in March 2014″, with plans to sell 100,000 Datsuns annually in Russia by 2016. There will be two Russian Datsun models to start with: a notchback sedan based on the Lada Kalina and Granta platforms and a hatchback model based on the previous generation Nissan Note.

Click on ‘Read more’ below for more details on Datsun’s return.

1968 Datsun 240Z

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I stand by the fact the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling model in the world in 2012.

* See the Full article by clicking on the title! *

On April 9, Ford announced that the Focus was the best-selling car in the world in 2012 with 1,020,410 sales vs. 872,774 for the Toyota Corolla. The figures they quote even show the Focus was already #1 in 2011 with 879,914 units vs. 819,376 for the Corolla. This announcement was relayed in many media outlets worldwide. On April 10, Toyota responded saying the Corolla figure quoted by Ford is missing 300,000 units and therefore the Corolla is still #1 worldwide. We had a similar situation last year when the 2012 half-yearly figures were communicated.

In spite of Ford’s data creativity, the Focus is #2 worldwide in 2012.

I feel I have to clarify my position on this debate given this is the core subject on my blog. In short, I stand by the 2012 Worldwide Top 1000 best-selling models ranking I created a short while ago, after having gone through all available official sales figures by country. This ranking places the Corolla on top with 1,097,132 sales ahead of the Focus at 1,036,683. Before being able to confirm this I had to get in touch with the company Ford quoted as the source of its figures. What happened is Ford customised that data so that 1. only the current generation Corolla is accounted for, and 2. the Corolla Altis (just another name used for the current gen in South-East Asia) is not. This is not fair game as the Focus figure itself includes 2 generations of the model on sale worldwide.

Could the Hyundai Elantra shut everyone up in 2013 and become the world’s best-seller?

My figure for the Focus is actually higher than Ford claims but not enough to make it #1 worldwide. As for Toyota’s claim, it is inflated as well, simply because it includes the Auris, Rukus and Matrix models. My figure sheds these models, but includes the previous 9th generation Corolla on sale in China (as the Corolla EX) and the 11th gen already sold in Japan (as the Corolla Axio). In my ranking, Corolla sales are made of 125,531 Corolla IX and 971,601 Corolla X and XI (total 1,097,132) while the Focus at 1,036,683 doesn’t make a split between the 2nd and 3rd generations possible.

See the Full article below.

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Mini Countryman

* See the Top 40 best-selling UK models worldwide by clicking on the title! Thanks Austin *

The original World Full Year 2012 Top 1000 is here

Last nationality ranking for the Worldwide Top 1000 models in 2012: the UK. Now to add to the debate on this ranking I have decided to include all UK “marques” even though most of them are now owned by Indian, Chinese or German companies. But I believe marques like Mini, Land Rover, Jaguar, MG and Rover will always be considered British. At this little game the Mini Cooper/Clubman wins with 199,276 sales in 104th place overall, ahead of the Range Rover Evoque at 108,598 units and #192 and the Mini Countryman/Paceman with 102,250 sales and #204. These are the only 3 British models to sell over 100,000 units worldwide last year.

Roewe 350

Then we have the Roewe (Chinese for Rover) 350 which, granted, is produced in China and only sold there and in a few other countries for now, and I will understand if you consider this model Chinese (it also appeared in the Chinese ranking). However  I thought it would be extremely interesting to include both Roewe and MG China-manufactured models to see how they compare with the rest of the British models. If you don’t agree, simply ignore them when you go through the ranking

The Range Rover Sport is #5 with 56,832 sales, followed by the Land Rover Freelander, Land Rover Discovery and MG3. The best-selling Jaguar is the XF at #10 UK, the most popular Bentley is the Continental at #17, the Aston Martin Virage is #22, Lotus Elise #26, McLaren MP4-12C #28 and Rolls-Royce Phantom #38.

The original World Full Year 2012 Top 1000 is here

Full Year 2012 Top 40 UK models Ranking Table below.

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The Fiat Palio/Siena is the best-selling Italian model worldwide in 2012.

* See the Top 20 best-selling Italian models worldwide by clicking on the title! Thanks Austin *

The original World Full Year 2012 Top 1000 is here

Only the ranking table for now – more commentaries will follow shortly. What is striking in this ranking is the impact of South America in general and Brazil in particular in Fiat worldwide sales: the Fiat Palio/Siena is the best-selling Italian model worldwide ahead of the Fiat Uno and Fiat 500 while the Fiat Punto is #4 and the Fiat Panda, #1 in Italy for the first time last year, is only #5.

The original World Full Year 2012 Top 1000 is here

Full Year 2012 Top 20 Italian models Ranking Table below.

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