Ford expects top-selling Focus to keep selling

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, said it expects to maintain the sales pace for its Focus compact car, which outsold the Toyota Corolla to be the world’s best-selling car in the first six months this year.

Ford sold 489,616 units of the Focus in the January to June period, compared with 462,187 Corollas, the Dearborn, Michigan- based automaker said in a statement today, citing data from IHS Automotive. The company produced its 350-millionth car in its history at its plant in Rayong, Thailand, according to the statement.

“The Focus is attracting many new customers to the Ford brand for the very first time, particularly in Asia where we are growing every day,” Jim Farley, Ford’s global market chief, said in the statement.

Ford is stepping up investments in Asia to tap demand from from China to India after widening losses in Europe prompted the carmaker to cut its outlook in July for full-year profit. The company said this week it will bring its luxury Lincoln nameplate to China in the second half of 2014.