Due to increased demand in China and the United States, the Ford Focus, achieved the

distinction of being the best-selling passenger car in the world in 2012.

The data for this claim was supplied by the consulting firm Polk, which said that the Ford Motor Company sold a bit over one million units of this popular compact car last year, throughout the world.

The largest impact on sales was made by China, where about 25 percent of the sales took place. Polk also noted that registrations increased by an astounding 51 percent in China, a large number in what is already the world’s largest automobile market. Ford only started marketing their vehicles in China in March last year.

In the United States sales of the Focus were also substantially up, by 40 percent in 2012. Ford pick-up trucks are also a popular Ford product in the US.

The increase in annual sales since 2009 has been in the double digits for the automobile industry as a whole. In 2009 car sales hit its lowest rate since World War II, adjusted for population.