Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: Only One Japanese Left In The Top 50 Best-Selling Models In China

by Matt Gasnier

Published: November 18th, 2012

best selling cars around the globe only one japanese left in the top 50 best selling

Lately we have traveled to Iraq, Puerto Rico, Poland and Australia. And today we are going to China.

Heard enough about the Middle Kingdom? Fine. You can fly to 170 other countries and territories in my blog, all from the comfort of your home. Or today I can offer you the 264 best-selling models in the USA in October 2012. Every single one of them.

Now back to China. You can discover the Top 280 best-selling locally produced models below the jump and you will see that the impact of the island diplomatic row between China and Japan is extremely hard on the model ranking in China…

The Nissan Sylphy is the best-selling Japanese car in China in October.

If last month the effects of the China/Japan diplomatic tensions over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands could be felt, in October it becomes truly critical.

While Honda is down 54 percent year-on-year, Toyota down 44 percent and Nissan down 41 percent, with 202,042 passenger car sales Volkswagen sold twice as many cars as all Japanese carmakers put together this month!

Audi sold more than any Japanese brand and Hyundai sold more cars than Nissan, Toyota and Honda put together at 80,598 units…

The only Japanese model to rank within the Top 50 best-selling models in October is the Nissan Sylphy at #30 with 8,670 units. The Toyota Camry follows at Honda CR-V at Mazda6 at #61 and Honda City at

Ford Focus

You can check out the Full Top 280 best-selling models here

Back to the top of the ranking where the Ford Focus enjoys its third consecutive month in pole position and 4th time in the last 5 months. With 33,614 sales in October it improves slightly on its best-ever monthly result ( 33,587 in September) and becomes just the 2nd model in the history of automobile in China to sell over 30,000 monthly units more than once.

The other model is the BYD F3 which last passed this benchmark in March 2010. Note that the Focus represents 77 percent of Ford’s total sales of locally produced models in China this month…

VW Lavida

Boosted by the new generation, the VW Lavida is up one spot on last month to a ranking it had not reached since last February. With 30,637 sales it beats it monthly record ( 25,072 in November 2010) by over 5,000 units and becomes the 5th passenger car to sell more than 30,000 monthly units after the BYD F3, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Sail ( last May) and VW Passat ( last January).

VW Passat

Volkswagen is the big winner in the China/Japan diplomatic row, placing no less than 8 models in the Top 16. The VW Passat is back up to #3 at 27,437 sales while the VW Sagitar is up to delivering its highest ever volume at 22,401 units. The VW Bora is up 3 ranks to the Jetta down one to #9 as the new generation is about to hit dealerships, the Tiguan up 7 to the Magotan up one to 13 and the Polo up 2 to Check out my China: Volkswagen who’s who article to become an expert on all VW models sold in China.

The Top 2 best-sellers in the 2012 year-to-date ranking are slightly weaker this month: the Buick Excelle is #4 and the Chevrolet Sail #6 but they are keeping the Ford Focus at bay for now at 237,859 and 232,483 sales respectively so far this year vs. 221,130 for the Focus.

Top 10 best-selling passenger cars in China in October 2012:

(You can check out the entire Top 280 Ranking here)

PosModelOctSep2012Pos20111Ford Focus33,6141221,130392VW Lavida30,6373194,954623VW Passat27,4375200,7684124Buick Excelle23,4144237,859115VW Sagitar22,4016154,36512256Chevrolet Sail21,6832232,483267Chevrolet Cruze20,69010194,357738VW Bora20,48811188,214859VW Jetta19,1498198,9015410Hyundai Elantra Yuedong18,3177178,85798

(You can check out the entire Top 280 Ranking here)

BYD F3 Surui

Notice also the Hyundai Elantra Langdong (new generation) up 5 spots to a best-ever #11 with 18,207 units, the Hyundai ix35 up to #21 vs. #46 year-to-date, the BYD F3 Surui (new generation) up 11 ranks to #31 with 8,565 sales for its 2nd month in market, the Roewe 350 up 16 to Great Wall Haval M4 up 10 to #37 and the Baojun 630 up 13 to

Emgrand EC7 (by Geely)

The best-selling Chinese passenger car is the Emgrand EC7 for the 2nd consecutive month and the third time ever after last June at #15 with a record 16,481 sales. It is followed by the Great Wall Haval H6 at the Chery QQ at the FAW Xiali N3/N5 at Great Wall Voleex C30 at #27 and Chery Fulwin 2 at

Kia K3

Venucia R50

#BestSellingCarsAroundTheGlobe #China #MattGasnier

Matt Gasnier

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2 of 4 comments

Lorenzo on Nov 18, 2012

I see a marvelous opportunity for Chinese-owned Volvo to expand it's offerings by doing a rebadge deal with the Japanese. Those Toyotas, Nissans and Hondas will sell like hotcakes with Volvo nameplates. If Volvo doesn't want to try, the Chinese owners of SAAB (cough) might want to do it.

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Victor on Nov 19, 2012

How reliable are those numbers? Couldn't it just be the chinese government trying to hurt Japan?

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