Article by Mark Atkinson

When it comes to best-selling vehicles, most people should be reasonably aware of Canadians’ preference for the Honda Civic and Ford F-Series. Even our neighbours to the south share the big Ford’s appreciation, but car-wise, prefer the larger Toyota Camry. But what about the hundreds of other countries around the world? Some should be familiar, most others probably not.

Rather than go through every single one, we’ve pared the list down considerably, and take a broader look at most regions of the planet. And a huge thanks goes to Matt Gasnier’s BestSellingCarBlog.com for the sales figures and much more.

Heading south to Mexico is a pretty Canadian thing to do in the winter, so why not start there? It has a pretty diverse market that includes some European brands we can’t get. And like plenty of other regions, cars that have come and gone to Canada are still sold in Mexico. The Chevrolet Aveo is the best-seller for third-straight year with 65,394 units sold. The Nissan Versa and ancient Nissan Tsuru – basically an early ‘90s Sentra sedan — held onto the other podium places.

When it comes to best-selling vehicles, most people should be reasonably aware of Canadians’ preference for the Honda Civic and Ford F-Series… But what about the hundreds of other countries around the world?
In South America, there are several countries dealing with very rough economic and social struggles. Argentina has a severely devalued currency and huge tax increases that boosted sticker prices by around 50 percent. As expected, that cramped vehicles sales in 2014 with around a third fewer sales year-over-year. Small basic hatchbacks are always a favourite, including Volkswagen’s regionally built Gol Trend winning with 29,667 sold. Toyota’s legendary Hilux pickup is second with 27,635 and Renault Clio Mio third despite losing a fifth of its sales year-over-year.

After being the B in the BRIC countries that provided nearly a decade of record-setting growth, Brazil’s bubble popped during the tense lead-up to the world cup, and hasn’t quite recovered yet. Also, after mandating more intensive regulations both for driver safety and to lessen their environment impact, the Fiat Palio Way scores first win with 183,741 units against the previously dominant Volkswagen Gol by a mere 385 cars. The more modern Fiat Strada jumped into third place with 155,130, which also helped the company to hold over 20 percent of the market.

Things are even worse in Venezuela in the chaos that’s followed long-time leader/dictator Hugo Chavez’s death. With a nearly stagnant economy damaging car sales in Venezuela for the last couple years, every manufacturer is down radically. In the ashes, the best of the worst is the Civetchi pickup, which is a Chinese rebadge of the ZNA Dongfeng Rich, which is a Chinese rebadge of a 20-year-old Nissan Navara. The Civetchi had 3,181 sales, although even those are still down nearly 70 percent year-over-year. No one is sure when things will recover.

Moving to Europe, and there are some bright spots and healthiness returning, although the home-team philosophy remains strong in more than a few. Selling cars in Germany and not being German is incredibly challenging. Almost since its inception, the Volkswagen Golf has been the Germans’ favourite for 40 years. And the seventh-generation version remains the top-selling car with 255,044 finding homes in 2014. The larger Passat is a long way back in second while the subcompact Polo family rounds out an all-VW podium.

The Spanish are as patriotic as anyone else, although having its Seat brand owned and controlled by Volkswagen might make some less than happy. Still, having the “Spanish” Seat Leon as a first-time best-seller at home is cause for celebration. The Golf-based Leon found 27,714 buyers, while its smaller Seat Ibiza sibling ended up second. The Volkswagen Polo – mechanical twin of the Ibiza – is ranked third.

France follows a similar pattern with its hometown favourites, so it should come as no surprise that the Renault Clio IV had a dominant performance with 105,182 sold. That was quite far ahead of its direct rival from the other French car-maker, the Peugeot 208, which only snagged 83,965. Renault’s Captur – essentially a sub-compact crossover sharing bits with the Nissan Juke and the best-selling Clio — captured third with 62,985 finding homes.

Italy continues with the strong pattern, although the last seven years have seen drastic market declines. But as the saying goes, when in Rome, right? An all-Fiat podium in Italy isn’t hard to imagine, really, although it’s only the second time that’s happened in this millennium. Given the government’s recent crackdown on anything remotely luxurious, the tiny and basic Fiat Panda has its third-year on top with 104,352 units sold. The aging, Golf-sized Fiat Punto was a distant second, barely holding off the Fiat 500L in third.

We all know about the United Kingdom’s biggest volume players and their long slow spiral into bankruptcy. All of the luxury brands have been foreign-owned for decades, and despite a Chinese-developed MG is available, it hasn’t found much success. In the absence of a home-team to root for, it seems very partial to Ford. The subcompact Fiesta has been on top for six years straight now thanks to a strong 131,254 of them sold in 2014. The larger Ford Focus and General Motors’ Vauxhall Corsa remain solidly on the podium again this year.

When it comes to Northern Europe, there’s quite a disparity between Sweden and Norway. Sweden only has one ‘local’ volume car-maker left after Saab’s epic failure, although Volvo is owned by a Chinese company. So there’s little that should disturb the Volvo V70 from its top spot. Its 23,624 sales earned it the best-selling Kroner for 18 straight years. The Volkswagen Golf earned runner-up, and sleeker Volvo S60/V60 twins locked in third place.

By contrast, Norway’s has pushed itself through taxes and regulation to have the highest concentration of electric-powered/assisted vehicles on earth. That focus on electric propulsion helps explain how the Tesla Model S ranked as the fifth-best-selling car this year, even earning top monthly sales spots along the way. The Volkswagen Golf was first with 9,676 sales, but over 2,000 of those were represented by the new electric-powered e-Golf. The Toyota Auris – with available hybrid-electric system – placed second, and the Nissan Leaf EV third.

Officially split between Europe and Asia, Turkey leans more towards the latter when it comes to cars. Its populace prefers traditional sedans to hatchbacks, so the locally built Renault Fluence – a larger-than-compact four-door – sold 32,252 examples, beating out the Fiat Linea – a trunked Fiat Punto – by the thinnest of margins, with only a 17-unit difference. The ubiquitous Toyota Corolla placed a strong third.

Russia’s ever-expanding car market took a nasty turn right around when Russia’s ever-expanding army captured some of Ukraine’s territory. The year’s-worth of economic sanctions and money-freezes threw out the anchor on the new-car market. The Lada Granta, one of the more modern locally-produced compacts, still managed to hold off its foreign rivals with 152,810 units sold. The Hyundai Solaris (an Accent to us) second, while its platform-mate the Kia Rio finished a strong third.
While Russia is tanking horribly, several of the former USSR states are proving pretty positive. In Romania, there’s good news!
While Russia is tanking horribly, several of the former USSR states are proving pretty positive. In Romania, there’s good news! The local Dacia car company was purchased around the turn of this century, and helped turn it from international joke to a well-respected manufacturer of inexpensive-but-robust vehicles. The Logan has spent 10 years on top of the Romanian new-car market, with sales up by 25 percent or 13,394 units moved. The more modern Dacia Duster SUV ranked second, and the Volkswagen-owned Skoda brand’s Octavia third.

While Latvia has one of the smallest new-vehicle markets around, it’s in pretty good shape, gaining around 17 percent in 2014. The Skoda Yeti was the top performer with 619 units sold. Yes, I haven’t forgotten a comma or zero. Ford probably sells more F-Series in an afternoon than that. The Nissan Qashqai had a strong second-place showing with 534, while the Volkswagen Golf third.

Kazakhstan has seen drastic swings up and down in the last two years, mainly thanks to the instable supply of grey-market Russian Lada’s that still dominate the country’s streets. Although both the top-selling Lada Priora and newer Lada Granta both had quite horrible years, they still managed to hold onto the top-two spots. Amazingly, the Kia Rio came through a strong third.

The Chinese auto sector can best be described as bloody confusing with the hundreds of different home-based companies, and joint ventures with more well-known foreign automakers. Unsurprisingly, all three best-selling cars in China are, well, Chinese in design and production, although the third-placed car is badged a Volkswagen. Very impressive! The Wuling Hongguang people-mover is up by 67 percent over last year with 750,019. Second, Haval H6 is the first SUV – Chinese or not – to break 300,000 sales, with 315,881 total. Third-placed Volkswagen Latida, a largish sedan based on old Passat bones, remains a favourite.

The last of the BRIC nations, India, hasn’t reached China’s level of investment, but it remains a growing market. Suzuki, the most recent automaker to pull out of North America, is going gangbusters in India. The local Suzuki Maruti partnership dominated with both its Alto (264,544 units) in first place, and Swift DZire second. The plain-sold Suzuki Swift ranked third.

In other Asian markets, Toyota’s dominance can’t be overstated. In Taiwan, the Corolla garners over 10 percent of Taiwan sales annually, with 44,926 finding homes in 2014. The Toyota RAV4 second a strong second, and the compact Toyota Wish MPV third. In Vietnam, another all-Big-T podium with the sleek Vios becoming a first-time best-seller with 9,187 sales, up almost 80 percent over last year, ahead of the basic Fortuner SUV and compact Innova minivan.

Indonesia proved another near-sweep with Toyota’s basic Avanza people-mover celebrating nine years on top with 162,228 sales, although it lost nearly a quarter of its volume in 2014 compared with only a two percent drop in the overall market. The new Honda Mobilo caught fire later in the year and ended up a strong second with 79,288, and Toyota’s Agya hatchback third with 67,074.

Toyota’s dominance continued in its home market, and although the market has constricted steadily thanks to economic and other factors, Japan still does buy a lot of cars. Probably helps that a good portion are the teeny Kei-cars – ultra compact vehicles with very strict regulations on overall dimensions and engine displacement – including the Daihatsu Tanto, which is up 62 percent with 234,456 units. This was a rare year when a Kei-car outsold a ‘regular’ model. The Toyota Aqua took second with 233,209 – barely more than 1200 units behind – and the new Honda Fit in third with 202,838 units moved.

Getting accurate updated numbers for large swaths of Africa can be tricky, although the Dacia Logan moved 24,469 units and stayed ahead of the Hyundai Accent and Kia Picanto in a slowing Algerian market. In Egypt, a workhorse Chevrolet TFR pickup – dubbed the Tank locally – scored a close win over the Hyundai Verna (Accent) with 24,892 sales.

Finally, in South Africa, the Toyota Hilux proves its popularity in rough areas is well deserved with 37,382 of the unbreakable pickup finding owners. Two locally assembled versions of the Volkswagen Polo were second and third respectively, although garnered almost twice as many sales combined (64,453) as the Hilux.