Nissan has passed Toyota to become the top-selling Asian brand in Europe in the first six months of this year, according to Automotive News Europe. This is Nissan’s first move ahead of Toyota in Europe since 1998 as its European sales have been growing for the past five years with a 21% growth reported for the year to date.

Nissan’s sales in Europe have been boosted by the QashqaI, which is also the brands best-selling car in Ireland. Nissan is in fifth place on the Irish market for the first six months of the year, while the Qashqai was Ireland’s third best-selling car this year, behind the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus.