The race for the title of best-selling foreign car in South Korea has come down to an unlikely three-way bet between the boxy Nissan Cube and the more traditional BMW 5 series and Mercedes-Benz E- Class.

With sales of 735 units in November, the Cube beat the 520d (526 sales) and the E300 (494 sales) for the first time. 

In the first 10 months of the year, BMW has topped the best-sellers’ list eight times and Mercedes twice.

But, in November, sales of the third-generation Cube – launched in Korea last August – climbed 126% month-on-month to become the first Japanese car to top the foreign sales chart since the Toyota Camry in April 2010. The performance helped Nissan to snatch fourth place in the monthly rankings, relegating Volkswagen to fifth.

Now all eyes will be on December’s sales figures.