It's Official: Ford Focus World's Best-Selling Car

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Ford says now what Matt Gasnier said months ago: The Ford Focus model was the world’s best-selling passenger car in 2012. Ford’s assertion is based on data from automotive consulting firm Polk.

According to Reuters, Ford sold 1,020,410 of its Focus compact in 2012. More than one out of four Focus cars were sold in China, where registrations climbed 51 percent.

Focus was launched in China in late March last year, and was on top of China’s sales charts for most of the months to follow, a remarkable achievement for late-to-China Ford. Ford’s China sales rose 65 percent in March to 81,387 units.

According to Matt, the Focus was followed by Toyota’s Corolla in second place, and Hyundai’s Elantra in third.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • John Rosevear John Rosevear on Apr 09, 2013

    Best-selling "nameplate", no? Isn't it true that a big chunk of those sales were the Chinese-market "Classic Focus", i.e. the last-gen Euro model? What they've done in China is still very impressive, and it's kind of just getting started. Mondeo/Fusion will start arriving at Chinese Ford dealers in May...

    • See 6 previous
    • Ranwhenparked Ranwhenparked on Apr 09, 2013

      @Sammy B Yep, Toyota's been playing that game for years. The badging, website, and marketing materials all say "Matrix", with no "Corolla" in sight, but when it comes time to report sales figures, you have "Corolla/Matrix".

  • Jimmyy Jimmyy on Apr 09, 2013

    In Southern California, a basic road rule: When looking for a spot to cut into traffic, be on the lookout for a newer Detroit vehicle, then check for the rental bar code before squeezing in. * *This theorm is based on the premise that out of town types tend not to exhibit road rage. Based on this Ford headline, I suggest the following new rule: When looking for a spot to cut into traffic, be on the lookout for a newer Focus vehicle, then check for the rental bar code before squeezing in. Note ... I had already been on the lookout for an unusually large number of the "game changing" Fusion sedans with the rental bar code when cutting in.

    • See 4 previous
    • Corntrollio Corntrollio on Apr 10, 2013

      I've only ever used the rule: "People with Washington plates in California are complete idiots on the road." Sometimes they just randomly stop in the middle of the road.

  • Lon888 Lon888 on Apr 09, 2013

    WTF?!? I go over to USAToday and they talk about this same subject and source and they list the Ford F-series truck as the 3rd best seller along with the "Wuling Zhiguang" as number 4. The Hyundai Elantra isn't even on their top 10 list. What gives?

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