The Ford Focus has claimed the title of the world's best selling vehicle nameplate for the second year running, citing new vehicle registrations for 2013 as released by Polk.
The Focus also managed to increase its slice of the action last year, with sales increasing by 8.1 percent to 1 097 618 units. While the Focus is relatively popular across the globe, it's really big in China, with that country accounting for more than a third of global Focus sales. The European continent is not far behind, consuming 29 percent of the world's Focus supply.
The Ford Fiesta, meanwhile, had its own taste of success last year, with total sales of 735 299 units making it the world's best-selling 'subcompact' car, according to Polk's data.
Yet the Focus could reach even greater heights in the years to come.
In March Ford announced the facelifted hatch and wagon versions and earlier this week the upgraded sedan made its first appearance. Ford SA says the new Focus models, complete with a new range of EcoBoost turbopetrol engines, will reach South Africa in early 2015.
Assuming that the popularity of the Focus continues to grow, Ford should have no trouble meeting demand. The C-segment contender is built in eight factories across the globe (Germany, USA, Russia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Argentina) and these facilities have the combined capacity to produce more than 1.5-million Focus cars per year if required.
The Focus has been around for 16 years and since 1998 more than 12 million have found homes across the globe.
However, Toyota might dispute the Focus' best-seller status as it did with last year's first-half sales numbers. Toyota's argument was that certain Corolla derivatives, such as the Matrix, were not included in the Corolla's sales figures and that adding them would push the Corolla into the lead.