World's most popular cars named

Booming SUVs and crossovers have flown into the ranks of the world’s top-selling cars for the first quarter of 2017, with Ford’s F-Series pick-up leading the way.

Ford sold almost a quarter of a million F-Series models in the fist quarter of the year, with demand for the aluminium-bodied truck growing 10 per cent over Q1 2016, which is even more remarkable given that it’s essentially a one-continent machine.

Nissan’s X-TRAIL/Rogue scorched up the sales charts, growing 23.4 per cent to shoulder its way into the world’s top three sellers, just 2376 behind Toyota’s evergreen Corolla, which remains in the number-two slot in figures just released by JATO Dynamics.

The death of the small car and the hatchback are so far exaggerated, with three of them in the top 10 and 12 in the top 30, including three from Volkswagen alone and two each from Honda and Ford.

Remarkably, the strongest selling premium car, Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class, burst through with 23.4-per cent growth lifting it to 127,587 deliveries, outselling budget cars like Ford’s Fiesta and Hyundai’s Jazz/Fit and larger models like Honda’s Accord and Volkswagen’s Passat.

The JATO Dynamics research showed the F-Series sprinting away from its pick-up rivals in the US, with the RAM in 15th and the Chevrolet Silverado one place further back.

In terms of playing depth, Volkswagen had six strong sellers in the top 30, including the China-only Lavida at number 18, and four in the top 20.

Honda delivered five of the top 30, while Ford had four.

The world’s biggest car market contributed in force, with three Chinese-built models in the top 30, including Wulung’s Hongguang people-mover at number seven, with 175,945 sales, the Volkswagen Lavida at number 18 and the Haval H6 at number 25.

Another stand-out performer was Skoda’s Octavia, which came in at number 29 without selling in either of the world’s two biggest markets, the US and China.

Japanese car-makers had 12 players in the top 30, while Germany had seven (eight, if you include the Volkswagen Group’s Skoda Octavia), the US had six (two of which were European-designed small cars), while Chinese and Korean brands had two each.

Volkswagen’s new Tiguan saw the sharpest jump in sales, growing an astonishing 47.9 per cent from the first quarter of 2016 to this year’s Q1 to land 172,623 sales.

Honda’s new Civic jumped 31.7 per cent in the same period and Nissan had two screaming performers, with X-TRAIL sales growing 23.4 per cent and Qashquai sales up 16.6 per cent.

On the flipside of that, Ford’s Focus shed 13.5 per cent of its 2016 Q1 sales, Volkswagen’s Bora slipped 11.2 per cent, the Hongguang fell 11 per cent, the Honda Jazz/Fit fell 10.2 per cent and Toyota’s Camry sales were down 9.2 per cent.