Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: World Roundup October 2012
Yes it is that time of the month, the time for our acclaimed monthly rendezvous: the World Roundup, now in its 8th installment.
Last month the Ford Focus’ success in China made the headlines, and in October it does again…but the heat is also on in Japan and Austria…
You can check out previous World Roundups here for March 2012 (“Has the Hybrid era started for good?”), April 2012 (“Big change coming from India”), May 2012 (“GM and Toyota Etios make headlines”), June 2012 (“Hyundai Santa Fe and Ford Focus shine”), July 2012 (“Geely CK writes history in Ukraine“), August 2012 (“The Subaru XV topples a legend in Switzerland”) and September 2012 (“Ford Focus strong in China”).
Had enough of the world and you just want to know which cars sell best in your own backyard? Easy. You can visit 171 countries and territories in my blog in the comfort of your own lounge.
Back to our Roundup.
In October again the big event is the impact the tensions between China and Japan have on the Chinese models ranking, with the Japanese falling deeper down the ranking with only one Nippon in the Chinese October Top 50: the Nissan Sylphy.
In fact, the 3 main events of September repeat themselves this month: the Ford Focus beats its record again in China, the Lada Granta is #1 anew in Russia and the Skoda Octavia stays above the VW Golf in Switzerland…
Now that we have cleared this up, let’s have a look at other worldwide events in October…
First let’s go to Japan, where, after many months of nibbling at its predecessor’s heels, the Toyota Aqua finally takes the lead. The Aqua, known elsewhere as the Prius C, sells 24,192 units vs. 18,116 for the Prius which was the last nameplate to rank #1 for the first time in Japan in May 2009 just after the Honda Insight in April 2009…
Next we land in Austria, another country feeling the consequences of the transition towards the 7th generation VW Golf along with Switzerland. The VW Tiguan grabs the Austrian pole position for the first time ever, making it the first time in 3 years that the Golf is not #1 in the country, since June 2009 exactly when the Seat Ibiza ranked #1.
A few recent newcomers are starting to make waves worldwide: the Renault Clio IV pushes the Clio nameplate to #1 in Spain for potentially the first time in 20 years and is up to #4 in France and Switzerland, the Skoda Citigo is up to #2 in Denmark, the Volvo V40 is up to #5 in Sweden and to an even better #4 in the Netherlands…
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Over here in India, the market continues to be dominated by small cars like the Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 (not to be confused with the global Alto, this one is the last generation Alto)
When I was in Brazil a few weeks ago my wife's immediate family was constantly talking about the HB20. It's the new fashionable car there to get, it seems. Rob