According to Ford, the latest generation of the Focus compact is the world’s most popular new car scoring more than a half million deliveries in the first seven months of 2012.

More specifically, the Blue Oval said that it has sold 522,821 Focus models (74,688 units on average each month) including 153,400 in Europe from January through July this year, which puts it ahead of the Toyota Corolla and the Volkswagen Golf in terms of global sales.

Last year, Ford delivered 860,000 models (or an average of 71,667 per month) worldwide.

In addition, earlier today, a new Focus produced at the company’s Rayong, Thailand facility became the 350 millionth Ford vehicle to roll off the production line since the automaker’s foundation in 1903.

“Consider, for a moment, the enormity of 350 million vehicles,” said John Fleming, Ford executive vice president of Global Manufacturing. “It’s equivalent to producing one vehicle every 10 seconds for 109 years; and, if placed end to end, would stretch to the moon and back – twice.”

The Focus came into play in 1998 as a replacement initially to the Escort in Europe and then to the Laser in North America. The model series is currently in its third generation.

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