BSCB Exclusive: Discover the Top 1400 best-selling cars in the world

The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car in the world – 28% of its sales come from China. 

* See the Top 1382 best-selling cars in the world by clicking on the title *

Our traditional Full Year worldwide models ranking is finally here for 2015, and once again it is exclusive to BSCB. Thanks to the launch of 94 new nameplates and the addition of almost 200 Chinese commercial vehicles, the number of nameplates accounted for this year shoots up to 1.382 vs. 1.116 a year ago, so for the first time in the four years this chart has been published we can upgrade from a Top 1000 to a Top 1400 worldwide models – please bear with us while we work on making this a Top 1500 for 2016. This ranking is the result of the compilation of official sales data for 135 markets as well as manufacturers data shared by carmakers directly with BSCB. It was created with the help of Austin Rutherford. As we did for the 2014 ranking, complete notes are included in the table so it is clear what variants are included for each model, as often a car can be sold under various names and/or brands depending on the region of the world. The aim is to make it easier to gauge what really are the best-selling cars in the world in 2015.

The VW Golf leaps to #2 worldwide in 2015. 

For the 11th consecutive year, the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling vehicle in the world in 2015 with just under 1.5 million units delivered. It is the only nameplate to cross the million annual sales mark, an illustration of the insurmountable margin it has over all other nameplates sold on the planet. Even when removing Auris and Scion iM sales (sold as Corolla hatch in some markets), the Corolla adds up to 1.339.000 units, the official figure communicated by Toyota. Note that over 100.000 Japanese Corolla – now a completely different model – are accounted for separately. While it threatened the Corolla for the #1 spot both in 2012 and 2013, the Ford Focus suffers from its half-replacement by the Escort in China and is down 19% to fall to #5 overall with 828.700 sales. The VW Golf snaps the #2 worldwide spot thanks to sales up 3% to 950.200, and is followed by the Ford F-Series (921.800) and Hyundai Elantra (913.200).

The Nissan X-Trail overtakes the Honda CR-V to become the best-selling SUV in the world. 

Below, the VW Polo (+4%), Toyota Camry (-2%), Renault Logan/Sandero (-2%) follow while the Nissan Sylphy (+13%) breaks into the worldwide Top 10 at #9 and the VW Passat rounds up the Top 10 with over 733.000 sales. One rank below, we witness a coup in the booming SUV segment: thanks to fantastic scores in China and North America, the Nissan X-Trail (aka Rogue) is up 47% to overtake the Honda CR-V and become the best-selling SUV in the world with just under 710.000 sales. The CR-V is at 695.500, ahead of the Toyota RAV4 (669.300), Ford Kuga (634.200) and Hyundai ix35/Tucson (580.600). However, Honda can console itself with the outstanding welcome reserved to the HR-V, up 4-fold on 2014 to an astounding 540.100 worldwide sales, 45% coming from China where it is sold as the Vezel and XR-V. It ranks #6 SUV and #19 overall.

The Mercedes C-Class is the best-selling luxury vehicle in the world in 2015. 

The largest market in the world, China is having a larger impact on the worldwide models ranking each year. Proof: among the Top 30 worldwide best-sellers, only 6 models sold less than 100.000 units there: the Chevrolet Silverado, Ram Pickup and Toyota Hilux (all three are unavailable in China), the Suzuki Swift, Ford Fiesta and Honda Civic. Despite sales down 13% to 660.700, the Wuling Hongguang remains the best-selling Chinese nameplate in the world but steps out of the Top 10 to #16. The Haval H6 follows at #45 and the Baojun 730 at #56. The best-selling luxury vehicle in the world is the Mercedes C-Class (+34%), overtaking the BMW 3 Series (-7%), with the BMW 5 Series (-7%) and Mercedes E-Class (-11%) in tow.

The Wuling Hongguang V is the most popular new launch worldwide in 2015. 

There are 94 all-new nameplates making their very first appearance in this 2015 Annual Worldwide ranking. The most successful of all is the Wuling Hongguang V, launched in January 2015 and posting almost 200.000 sales for its first run. A testimony of the fact that China is just evolving in a different dimension altogether, this smashing start has been deemed lukewarm at home, given the success of previous launches from the brand. Note the Ford Escort – a nameplate resuscitated exclusively for China – misses out on the title for most successful all-new model due to a launch in late 2014 but soars to 214.363 sales for its first full year nevertheless. Most of the next most popular all-new launches worldwide come from China: the Baojun 560 (145.007), GAC Trumpchi GS4 (131.016) distance the Mazda CX-3 (85.575), Brilliance V3 (75.293) and Venucia T70 (63.195). Then, we have the Renault Kadjar (54.353), Daihatsu Wake (53.411) and Ssangyong Tivoli (50.965).

The entire Top 1382 ranking is available below the jump – click on “Read more” below.

See also:

World Full Year 2015: Toyota best-selling manufacturer as VW backs off

World Full Year 2015: Total sales data available for 145 countries

World Full Year 2015: Discover the #1 models in 178 countries

World Full Year 2015: Toyota #1 in 90 markets vs. 20 for Volkswagen

Previous year: World Full Year 2014: Discover the Top 1000 best-selling cars

Two years ago: World Full Year 2013: Discover the Top 1000 best-selling models

Three years ago: World Full Year 2012: Discover the Top 1000 best-selling models

Full Year 2015 Top 1382 worldwide best-sellers vs. Full Year 2013 and 2014 figures below.