Last week, we reported that some 84,24 million units across the passenger car and light commercial segments were sold globally in 2016. But which were the most popular vehicles around the world?
Well, Jato Dynamics has released a list of the 50 best-selling vehicles globally last year, and it makes for rather interesting reading.
The Ford F-Series topped the table thanks largely to huge demand in the United States for large pickups. The Toyota Corolla snaffled second place, while the Volkswagen Golf suffered a dip in demand in its largest market of Europe, and thus had to settle for third spot.
The best-selling SUV of the year was the Nissan X-Trail (also badged “Rogue” in some markets), which overtook the Honda CR-V.
The list suggests that SUVs were the largest drivers of growth in 2016, with that segment’s volume accounting for almost 29% of all vehicles sold last year. Jato says the majority of these registrations were in the C-SUV sub-segment, but the smallest sub-segment (B-SUV) posted the highest growth of 28%.
“SUVs have continued to take market share away from traditional segments, and this trend isn’t restricted to particular markets – it’s a trend that we’ve seen on a global scale and expect to continue in 2017,” said Felipe Munoz, Jato’s global analyst.
It’s interesting to note the position on the global table of some of South Africa’s best-selling vehicles, such as the Volkswagen Polo hatchback (15th), Hyundai Tucson (19th) and Toyota Hilux (46th).
The Mercedes-Benz C-Class (29th) placed ahead of the BMW 3 Series (34th), while the Ford Kuga managed 13th overall.
50 best-selling cars in the world in 2016:
1. Ford F-Series – 986 660 (+7,7%)
2. Toyota Corolla – 952 576 (+0,9%)
3. Volkswagen Golf – 859 845 (-8,2%)
4. Wuling Hongguang – 847 202 (-0,3%)
5. Nissan X-Trail/Rogue – 766 729 (+23,4%)
6. Hyundai Elantra/Avante/i35 – 765 996 (+4,3%)
7. Ford Focus – 732 893 (-11,1%)
8. Honda HR-V/XR-V/Vezel – 724 769 (+38,4%)
9. Honda CR-V – 707 890 (+2,3%)
10. Toyota RAV4 – 701 756 (+11,7%)
11. Honda Civic – 667 203 (+19,9%)
12. Chevrolet Silverado – 633 995 (-4,2%)
13. Ford Kuga/Escape – 620 934 (-0,8%)
14. Toyota Camry/Aurion – 605 426 (-10,2%)
15. Volkswagen Polo hatchback – 601 096 (+0,7%)
16. Ram Pickup – 594 097 (+6,1%)
17. Volkswagen Jetta/Bora/Sagitar/Vento – 588 213 (+4,8%)
18. Great Wall Haval/Hover H6 – 582 008 (+56,0%)
19. Hyundai Tucson – 577 036 (+130,8%)
20. Honda Accord – 519 789 (-4,0%)
21. Volkswagen Tiguan – 517 156 (+5,0%)
22. Kia Sportage/KX5 – 503 306 (+27,2%)
23. Buick Excelle – 495 509 (+8,4%)
24. Suzuki Swift – 493 538 (-13,2%)
25. Chevrolet Cruze – 489 885 (-16,7%)
26. Ford Fusion/Mondeo – 478 545 (-11,4%)
27. Volkswagen Lavida – 475 452 (+33,7%)
28. Honda Jazz/Fit – 473 860 (-1,7%)
29. Mercedes-Benz C-Class – 463 426 (+3,8%)
30. Ford Fiesta – 447 721 (-16,6%)
31. Mazda3/Axela – 440 480 (+2,4%)
32. Nissan Qashqai/Rogue Sport – 430 283 (+24,4%)
33. Skoda Octavia – 427 077 (+3,5%)
34. BMW 3 Series – 426 140 (-4,2%)
35. Hyundai Accent/Verna/i25/Solaris – 423 333 (-10,0%)
36. Volkswagen Passat (EU)/Magotan – 422 998 (-1,8%)
37. Kia Cerato/Forte/K3 – 420 604 (+20,4%)
38. Kia Rio/Pride/K2 – 394 521 (+4,2%)
39. Nissan Almera/Sylphy Classic – 377 971 (+2,0%)
40. Baojun 730 – 370 169 (+15,3%)
41. Chevrolet Malibu – 361 106 (+15,0%)
42. Renault Clio – 357 815 (+2,3%)
43. Audi A3 – 357 549 (-0,9%)
44. Jeep Cherokee – 355 403 (+19,8%)
45. Toyota Prius – 354 511 (+69,4%)
46. Toyota Hilux – 352 065 (+0,8%)
47. Mazda CX-5 – 351 294 (-1,2%)
48. Hyundai Sonata/i45 – 347 718 (-11,7%)
49. Hyundai i10/Grand i10/Xcent – 344 420 (-2,3%)
50. Volkswagen Jetta (China) – 341 943 (+25,6%)
