Your favorite worldwide updates are back and today the focus is on China.

It’s no secret that apart from in the Light Commercial Vehicle segment, Chinese brands have been struggling in their home market for a while (see China February 2012: When will Chinese cars rule at home?). Granted, last November in the midst of China-Japan tensions, the penetration rate of Chinese passenger cars shot up to 35%, its highest in 20 years. But it’s still incredibly low compared to Japan and South Korea, two Asian car manufacturing powerhouses that have built their success overseas on a quasi-monopoly at home.

But this could change drastically soon.

How?

Jump and see…

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We have now gone to China, Europe, Russia, India, Israel, Italia, Indonesia, France, Canada and Germany to explore what cars these countries bought in 2012. While we’re at it, why not explore the entire world?

Way too much to stomach? That’s ok, you can check the best-selling models and brands in 173 different countries and territories on my blog, one by one. So enjoy!

Back to the world. No one up to now had dared to publish a worldwide models ranking because of all the controversy: why is this model not counted as a separate one? But what about the sedan version? The Jetta is really a Golf with a boot, so why don’t you count them together? Is this a Chevrolet, a Buick or an Opel? And so on. But that was up to now. And now is the time to break the last car sales data taboo, take the bull by the horns, draw a line in the sand, or whatever tired expression you choose to insert here.

At last.

I give you the 1000 (yes, one thousand) best-selling models around the planet in 2012.

Jump in.

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Now that we have visited China, Europe, Russia, India, Israel, Italia, Indonesia, France, Canada and Germany, it’s time to explore what the most popular cars were in Mexico in 2012.

Not interested in the least? That’s fine I won’t take it personally, simply because I had prepared the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog, so enjoy!

Back to Mexico. And did you know Mexico was the only country in the world dominated by…  Jump in to know more!

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The next stop on our  ‘what the XXX bought in 2012′ is Germany, after going to China, Europe, Russia, India, Israel, Italia, Indonesia, France and Canada.

Not what you had in mind? That’s ok, you can check the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Germany. And in 2012 a few models broke their all-time annual volume records… Jump in to know more!

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We continue on our ‘what the XXX bought in 2012′ series. After going to China, Europe, Russia, India, Israel, Italia, Indonesia and France, today we cross the border to Canada.

Had enough already? Thought so, and it’s ok because you can check the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Canada. And in 2012 a very important record was broken… Jump in to know more!

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After one World Roundup interruption last week, let’s resume our ‘what the XXX bought in 2012′ series. After going to China, Europe, Russia, India, Israel, Italia and Indonesia, this time let’s see what the French bought in 2012.

Not interested? That’s fine I’ve got it all covered and prepared the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog for you. Enjoy!

Back to France. And 2012 was a transition year for this market, with best-sellers that we will not see atop the ranking in the future anymore…

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Let me just interrupt my ‘what the XXX bought in 2012’ series (we’ve been to China, Europe, Russia, India, Israel, Italia and Indonesia already), to give you my Roundup of world car sales for January 2013…

Not interested? That’s fine, I’m started to get used to you fickle crowd, and that’s why I have prepared the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog for you. Enjoy!

Back to our World Roundup… Last month all the spotlights were on Chinese models with 3 of them in the lead in Bulgaria, Venezuela and Ukraine… In January we focus on Renault, Volvo and… well China again but through the exceptional performance of the VW Lavida…

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We continue our round-the-world-travels, exploring what the main car markets in the world looked like in 2012. We have gone through the Chinese, European, Russian, Indian, Israeli and Italian markets already, now let’s have a look at Indonesia…

Not really interested? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Indonesia. And for the first time ever in 2012, the Indonesian car market became… Damn me! You’re going to have to jump to find out…

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And on we go in our round-the-world-travels, exploring what the main car markets in the world looked like in 2012. We have gone through the Chinese, European, Russian, Indian and Israeli markets already, now let’s have a look at Italy…

Not really interested? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Italy. And for the first time since World War II… Well you’re going to have to jump to find out…

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We continue to travel around the world and explore what the main car markets in the world looked like in 2012. We have gone through the Chinese, European, Russian and Indian markets already, now let’s have a look at Israel….

Not really interested? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 172 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Israel. And in Israel, Mazda is so 2011 right now…

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Now that almost all official data for the Full Year 2012 is available (Middle East is still to come in my books), and just as we are starting to get a feel for what 2013 could look like, I thought I would do a little summary for you of what happened in 2012 in the biggest markets in the world. We have gone through the Chinese, European and Russian markets already, now let’s have a look at India….

India not your thing? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 171 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to India.

And like every single member of the BRICs, 2012 was a record year for the Indian car market. Whoever came up with that BRIC expression should be hailed as a modern day Nostradamus if you ask me….

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We continue on our shopping list of what cars and carmakers sold best in the biggest markets in the world and after China and Europe, today we stop in Russia. Couldn’t care less? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 171 additional countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Russia.

Oh and every time I write about car sales in Russia I can’t help but put that video up. I love it too much. Sorry.

Back to car sales. Lots-of-Ladas-but-not-only. In 6 words this is what happened last year in Russia.

I know you’re dying to know more. So jump!

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Now that almost all official data for the Full Year 2012 is available (Middle East is still to come in my books), and just as we are starting to get a feel for what 2013 could look like, I thought I would do a little summary for you of what happened in 2012 in the biggest markets in the world. We have gone through the Chinese market already, now let’s have a look at Europe….

Europe not your thing? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models and brands in 172 countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to Europe. And it has been a difficult year for European sales, with only the UK among the Big 5 (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain) managing to gain ground vs. 2011. But the favourite car and carmaker on the continent are the same as last year…

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Yesterday I ran you through the best-selling cars around the globe in November, and today we are getting one step closer to a final worldwide models ranking, with our much anticipated monthly rendezvous: the World roundup for December 2012. If last month, all spotlights were on Brazil where Hyundai broke new ground with its locally-produced HB20, in December the focus is on Chinese carmakers abroad with an event that the car industry had never seen before…

You can check out previous World Roundups here for August 2012 (“The Subaru XV topples a legend in Switzerland”), September 2012 (“Ford Focus strong in China”), October 2012 (“One Japanese in the Chinese Top 50″) and November 2012 (“When Hyundai cracked Brazil”).

Not interested? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models in 171 countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to the roundup.

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Last time you heard about me, I took you through the best-selling cars in China over 2012. This time I thought I’d expand to… well the whole wide world. Even then, it’s the same winner…

Not into the world? That’s ok, you can check out the best-selling models in 171 countries and territories on my blog. Enjoy!

Back to the world.

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