Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: World Round Up June 2012: Hyundai Santa Fe And Ford Focus Shine

Last week we saw how Great Wall reached Bulgaria with promising results, and this week is the moment you've all been eagerly waiting for: the famous World car sales Roundup, June edition! You can check out previous world Roundups here for March 2012  ("Has the Hybrid era started for good?"), here for April 2012 ("Big change coming from India") and here for May 2012 ("GM and Toyota Etios make headlines"). World Roundups not your thing? No worries, you can visit 168 countries and territories in my blog, go on, you know you want to! So in May we talked General Motors and Toyota, this month we talk Ford and Hyundai, with the Focus and Santa Fe now making headlines… The main event worldwide in June is the pole position of the Ford Focus in China, a ranking it holds for the very first time thanks to 27,160 sales. It is the first time a Ford model manages to top the Chinese passenger car ranking and it is another proof of the growing domination of US manufacturers in the biggest car market in the world, with 3 US models in the 6 months 2012 Chinese Top 4: the Buick Excelle, Chevrolet Sail and Cruze! The Ford Focus is also #1 in Ireland, Norway and Israel this month. The second worldwide June headline is the new generation Hyundai Santa Fe taking the lead in its home market in South Korea as early as for its first full month of sales with a brilliant 10,423 units sold and 8.4% market share. This augurs well for the upcoming career of the model worldwide… In third spot I have chosen the Dacia/Renault Duster. After launching the Duster in Western and Central Europe and Africa in 2010 to great success, Renault expanded the Duster's footprint to South America and Russia and sales are literally taking off: in Brazil the Duster is up to a record 16th spot with 5,170 sales, in Russia it is up to a best-ever 14th place with 4,913 units and in Colombia it is by far the best performing newcomer over the first 6 months of 2012 at #11 with 3,376 sales. Notice also the Renault Sandero breaking the 10,000 monthly sales mark for the first time in any country in the world this month – in Brazil. A couple of big events in the US this month: the Chevrolet Malibu delivers its strongest volume in possibly 32 years at 31,402 sales, the Ford Escape lodges its best-ever month at 28,500 units, and we welcome two all-new models in the ranking: the Cadillac XTS at #186 with 753 sales and the eagerly anticipated Dodge Dart at #234 with 202 units. In Croatia, the VW Up! grabs the pole position with an astounding 7.4% share, by far the highest market share it has reached so far anywhere in the world, but also the strongest market share for any model in Croatia since February 2011. This is partly due to a large order by retail car companies though. The Toyota Etios confirms its success in South Africa: after landing directly at a brilliant #7 in May for its first month of sales in the country, it improves further to #4 with an impressive 2,105 sales and 4.1% share, more than double the next best-selling Toyota passenger car. While Chinese manufacturers are still struggling at home, Great Wall kicks two goals overseas this month. The Great Wall Voleex C30 starts its Iranian production by ranking #11 overall this month, and Great Wall becomes one of the Top 10 best-selling brands in Bulgaria over the first 6 months of 2012, now manufacturing there as well. Indonesia celebrates its very first month at over 100,000 sales, and in this euphoric context the Suzuki Ertiga excels in 5th place with 3,782 sales and 3.7% share for only its third month of availability in the country. In Australia, the Holden Commodore, the best-selling car in Australia for 15 years in a row from 1996 to 2010, and ranked within the Top 2 for the entirety of the nameplate's life from 1978 to 2011, is down to #8 this month. This is by far the lowest ranking the Commodore has ever been at in the nameplate's 34 years, and the horizon is starting to look very dark for what used to be Holden's cash cow. In France, the Dacia Lodgy continues its accelerated progression to the top of the ranking: it breaks into the Top 30 for the first time at #29 with 1,975 sales, double its May figure and playing a big part in Dacia ranking 5th best-selling brand in France this month behind Renault, Peugeot, Citroen and Volkswagen. I still predict a spot in the monthly French Top 10 within the next 12 months for the Lodgy. The Dacia Dokker and Peugeot 301 also make their first appearance in the French ranking this month while the Lodgy makes its first appearance in Romania at #37. In Greece, Citroen reaps the benefit of an aggressive pricing strategy and manages to place the C3 in pole position for the second month in a row with 466 sales and a huge 8.4% market share. This is the first time since September 1998 that a Citroen manages to hold the Greek #1 spot for 2 consecutive months. In the UK the Fiat 500 manages to rank within the Top 10 for the third consecutive month for the first time ever tin the UK. Even the original 1956 Fiat 500 was never that successful… For its part the Fiat Panda celebrates its 6th consecutive month atop the Italian models ranking. It is only the second time in the Panda nameplate's 32 years that it manages to hold the pole position 6 months in a row after a first stint from August 2008 to January 2009. The Mazda CX-5 is stable at a very impressive #11 in Australia and reaches a best-ever 13th position in Japan. In the Netherlands the Renault Megane continues to benefit from the low emission government measures in place, lodging another astounding month in pole position with 3,833 sales and 5% share. It also hits its highest ever share in Slovenia at 6.8%, enabling it to rank #5 in Europe this month. The Nissan Qashqai is back in the European Top 10 for the third time this year after January (#9) and March (#7) with 21,682 sales, up a shiny 16% year-on-year. It is only the 5th time ever the Qashqai ranks in the European Top 10 after July 2010 and September 2011. The BMW 3 Series is also back in the Top 10 for the second time in the last 3 months at #10 with 20,112 units, up 12%. Other highlights include the Honda NBOX confirming its status of Japan's favourite key car, the Toyota Innova breaking into the Indian Top 10 for the first time at #7 with 6,785 units and a record 3.4% share, Dodge Grand Caravan hitting its highest monthly volume in Canada in potentially 5 years, the Hyundai ix35 up to a fantastic 5th place in Austria, the Volvo V40 making its first appearance at home in Sweden at #121 with 35 units sold, the Skoda Rapid landing at #100 with 30 sales In Czech Republic, the Hyundai Accent taking the lead in Ukraine, the BMW 1 Series up to a shiny 4th place in Germany, and Toyota producing its 200 millionth vehicle since August 1935. Previous World Roundups: 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 Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars, dedicated to counting cars all over the world. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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