It will be interesting to see how these numbers turn out after the end of August due to the effect of the Cash for Clunkers program.  From what I have heard on the news the Ford Escape and Focus have been huge sellers:

For the first time ever Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has driven Ford out of the number four spot in the global auto sales ranking. According to U.S.-based Automotive News on Sunday, Hyundai-Kia sold 2.153 million units in the first six months of this year while Ford sold 2.145 million. The U.S. carmaker trailed by 8,000 units and fell to fifth place in the ranking.

It seems likely that the Korean auto manufacturer will maintain its ranking for the year, as its sales fell by only five percent on-year in the first half while Ford saw its sales drop more than 30 percent. Ranked 10th in global sales in 2000, Hyundai-Kia soared to sixth place in 2006 and maintained the fifth spot from 2007. But experts believed that taking fourth place would be a much greater challenge as last year it trailed Ford by about a million units.

Hyundai-Kia may even climb to third place within a few years because U.S.-based General Motors recently separated from Opel, which is in charge of production and sales in Europe, and is unlikely to see improvement in U.S. sales for some time, experts said. Bok Deuk-kyu, a senior economist at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, said, “Along with Germany’s Volkswagen and Japan’s Toyota, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group may dominate the world’s compact car market.”

Toyota sold 3.56 million units in the first half, ranking first, followed by GM with 3.55 million and Volkswagen with 3.10 million sales.  [Chosun Ilbo]