World September 2012: Ford Focus #1 ahead of Toyota Corolla!

Very strong sales in China have pushed the Ford Focus to #1 worldwide

* See the Top 150 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Austin *

Now that September figures are all in, I can share with you the Top 150 most popular cars around the planet in September. May I just stress that these are September figures, not October. The October World Roundup will be published on BSCB over the next few days. Remember this ranking is based on sales in the 60+ countries that are updated monthly on BSCB, except for Ford and Renault/Dacia where sales are official worldwide figures. Massive event in September: benefitting from the Japanese drama in China, the Ford Focus becomes the best-selling model in the world thanks to a huge 95,929 units sold worldwide, helped by over 30,000 sales in China. The Toyota Corolla drops to a distant #2 at 82,074 sales that include the Matrix and Auris versions.

The current gen VW Jetta is called Sagitar in China.

Year-to-date however the Corolla keeps the lead with 864,674 sales vs. 747,228 for the Focus. The Focus domination could go on until the end of the year as sales of Japanese models in China have actually worsened in October… The VW Jetta continues to shine in third position with 69,188 units, note this figure still includes Chinese sales of the 2nd generation 1984 Jetta but these will be removed once the new Chinese Jetta kick-starts later in the year as it is now totally separate from any other Jetta generation sold worldwide (see China: Volkswagen who’s who article for more details). Excellent showing for the VW Golf up 4 spots to #4 and the Hyundai Elantra up one to #5, now helped by a very successful launch of the new generation in China.

This pick-up truck section is brought to you by the Mitsubishi L200

In 7th place we find the Ford F-Series with 66,589 sales, down 3 ranks on last month but still way ahead in the worldwide pick-up truck ranking at 569,906 units year-to-date. The Toyota Hilux excels, up 5 spots to #12 with 52,789, while the Chevrolet Silverado is up one to #18, the Dodge RAM up 3 to #32 and the Isuzu D-Max down 2 to #65. The Nissan Frontier/Navara ranks #90, followed by the Chevrolet Colorado at #110, Toyota Tacoma at #122, Mitsubishi L200 at #155, Toyota Tundra at #158, Fiat Strada at #159 and Ford Ranger at #160.

Get five year pick-up warranty with the Mitsubishi L200…

BMW 3 Series

Back to the overall ranking and the best performers in the Top 50 this month: the Opel/Chevrolet Corsa is up 20 ranks to #19 thanks to a strong UK market, the Hyundai Tucson/ix35 is up a further 4 spots to #21 vs. #35 year-to-date, the Suzuki Wagon R is up 27 to #23 now that Japan and India are back to strong sales, the Mercedes C-Class is up 22 to #34 and the BMW 3 Series up 33 to #35.

Hyundai Santa Fe

Further down, the Toyota Aqua is getting close to the Top 50, up 5 ranks to #53, the Peugeot 208 is up 44 to a best-ever #58, the Hyundai Santa Fe is up a massive 58 spots to #67 thanks to the new generation, the Nissan Note lands at #70 with 19,484 sales mainly due to the new model launched in Japan, the BYD F3 is up 50 spots to reclaim the title of best-selling Chinese passenger car worldwide at #81 thanks to the new ‘Surui’ model, the Subaru Impreza/XV is up 47 ranks to #83 with the launch of the XV in Japan, the Emgrand EC7 is up a brilliant 53 spots to #89, the Great Wall Haval H6 stays in the Top 100 at #98 and the Mazda CX-5 is up 19 to #102. Finally, notice the Mitsubishi Mirage above 10,000 units for the first time at #157.

Note: the Mitsubishi links in this post are sponsored.

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Full September 2012 Top 150 Ranking Table below.