The best-selling cars in the world

There were a couple of surprises as winners from previous years slipped, while other did better than we might have expected among the top 10 best-selling new cars.

Electric cars are making gains in worldwide sales, but they have not displaced those with internal combustion power nearly as much as some have predicted.

Just as tellingly, Toyota remains the most numerous brand in the top 10, with half of all spots in this list going to the Japanese firm. Data from Car Industry Analysis. We include comparison figures with 2023:

The BYD Qin’s sales increase of 6% in 2024 may seem modest compared to its 43% leap in 2023, but it’s enough of an increase to propel the Chinese saloon into the top 10. Global sales of just more than half a million units were strongly underpinned by almost all of them coming from its home market in China, with less than 2000 sales beyond its domestic borders.

Similar in style to BYD’s Seal, the Qin’s sales were bolstered in 2024 by it being available with both plug-in hybrid and full EV power options. The Qin is also a model to watch in 2025 as BYD plans greater exports of this popular model, which could see it move further up the global sales rankings by the close of the year.

A sales increase of 10% is impressive, yet it’s only enough to move the enduringly popular Tesla Model 3 up from 10th spot in 2023 to ninth overall in 2024. The US car maker will take solace from that 10% rise meaning sales went up by 51,500 units in 2024 compared to the previous year, which will have drawn much of the sting from the sales slide of the Model Y.

The Model 3 continues to feature very strongly in many countries’ top three best-sellers, aided by a facelift towards the end of 2023. It has also been assisted by the continuing push in Europe towards EVs through legislation and incentives, which has helped offset some recent buyer resistance to Tesla models.

The Toyota Camry is an old hand when it comes to residing in the upper echelons of global car sales. For 2024, the saloon slipped to eighth place from the previous year’s sixth spot, with sales down by 8%, but it still accounted for a hefty chunk of Toyota’s overall output.

The majority of these sales were in the US, where the Camry continues to enjoy a strong following thanks to its reputation for reliability. It also benefits from reduced competition in the saloon class, with GM and Ford both largely leaving that market.

The Camry means Toyota is by far the most prolific brand in the top 10 of global best-selling brands as the Japanese company has an impressive five cars in the top half of the table.

The sales slide from 2023 to 2024 was 57,500 cars, a decline that looks likely to continue in the long-term with the shift towards EVs in leading global markets.

Once the undisputed leader in the roll call of global best-selling cars, the Ford F-150 has been slipping and losing market share for some time. That happened again in 2024, with a sales fall of 2% that equates to 28,200 units compared to 2023.

The good news for Ford is the F-150 hangs on to seventh place, the same as last year. It’s also a mildly welcome sign for Ford that its F-150 has not seen the much larger percentage drops that some of its competitors have with entries in this list. Less comforting is the sales improvement that Ford enjoyed in 2023 with the F-150 has not been repeated for 2024.

The Toyota Hilux is a perma-feature of the upper reaches of global best-sellers thanks to its universal appeal as a workhorse. Whether it’s dealing with the wilds of Africa, the Australian Outback, or nipping to the DIY store, the Hilux does it all with ease. Such broad appeal is what has helped the Hilux record such large sales volumes for decades.

It’s not all roses and back slaps at Toyota, however, as even the mighty Hilux is far from immune to the slippery slope of reducing sales for fossil-fuelled vehicles. The Toyota pick-up is down a hefty 15% in 2024 according to this latest data, though the enduring lure of this truck means the boardroom in Japan won’t be panicking just yet.

Half of the cars in the top 10 of global best-sellers have witnessed a drop in sales in 2024 compared to 2023, and the Toyota Corolla is one of that group. An easing of worldwide sales of 11% is significant when this car accounts for so many that roll out of Toyota’s factories.

On the upside for the Corolla, and Toyota, is its small hatch and saloon range, also known as Levin in some markets, has a loyal following and tops the sales charts in several countries to keep it as a serious force in the world car market. The Corolla is helped in this by its hybrid powertrain that has seen less of a reduction in sales compared to some rivals without any electrification in their line-up.

Honda’s only entry in the top 10 of global best-selling cars is the CR-V, which was one place higher up the rankings last year in third overall. No matter, the Japanese firm will be pleased to see sales are up a modest 1% against a tough economic backdrop that saw many marketplaces sell fewer cars than in the preceding year.

The CR-V’s electrified hybrid drivetrains have helped it remain a sensible choice even in markets that have moved more rapidly towards full EVs such as Europe. A rise in the number of alternative EV SUVs from China have also given the CR-V’s sales a challenge. North American buyers underpin the success of the CR-V, accounting for more than a half of total production in 2024.

The relentless sales march of the Toyota Corolla Cross, or Frontlander as it’s called in certain markets, continues with seemingly unstoppable momentum. Last year, we reported a sales rise of a whopping 35%, while for this year’s list of global best-sellers it’s recorded an 18% increase.

While the percentage number increase in 2024 may be smaller than the year before for the Toyota, it must be remembered this is a slice of a bigger cake. In bare numbers, it means the Corolla Cross sold 143,500 more cars in 2024 than the previous year, which is a huge and hugely impressive uptick when you consider the Honda CR-V managed a mere 1% rise in sales in the same period.

With both of its key models in the top 10 of global best-sellers and sales of the Model 3 up by a massive 63% in 2023, you could be forgiven for thinking that Tesla had nothing to worry about.

However, these figures for sales in 2024 show the Model Y experienced a loss in sales of 3%, proving the only way to go from the top of the chart is downwards.

That margin might not have Tesla concerned, but this small drop in sales occurred before the company began to experience more buyer resistance from the beginning of 2025, so it may well encounter more sales reverses for 2025’s numbers – especially as it faces challenges from new Chinese-built SUVs in many major markets in Asia and Europe.

The arrival of a facelifted model in early 2025 may help matters, however.

In quite a role reversal, the Toyota RAV4 has stepped up to first place in the global best-sellers list according to the data for 2024. That is one step higher than in 2023 and the RAV4, called Wildlander in China, has achieved this courtesy of a substantial 11% rise in sales, rather than managing its decline better than some others in the list.

Toyota will be extremely happy to see the RAV4’s success as it comes on the back of sales growth in the previous year too, so the RAV4 is doing very well. The popularity of the Wildlander means Chinese sales added an extremely useful 330,800 sales to the overall total for 2024.

It also proves that sales of cars with an internal combustion engine are far from over as Toyota’s self-charging and plug-in hybrid powertrains appeal to those not yet ready to switch to a full EV.

The RAV4’s sales tally in 2024 was unhindered by the looming arrival of a new sixth-generation model in mid-2025 and it will be intriguing to see what impact this has on the RAV4’s sales total for 2025.

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