The world’s best-selling cars

With global sales contracting only slightly in 2022, much of this reduction in sales is due to rivals taking sales and market share. The march towards EV cars is clear in most Western countries and China. While the US remains keen on large pick-ups, it is also shifting its buying patterns towards more efficient models. We’ve ranked the top 30 best-selling cars in the world in ascending order:

It was a year of mixed results for the Ford Ranger in 2022. Overall sales of Ford’s mainstay pick-up outside of US markets saw sales slide by 16% globally, yet the Ranger enjoyed record numbers in several of its core markets.

A handsome update to the Ranger’s style, mimicking that of the F-150, helped endear it to buyers in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Vietnam. Perhaps as much of a boost to Ford in these markets will be challenging the Toyota Hilux as the preferred pick-up of buyers.

Hyundai has been building the ix25, or Creta as it’s known in some markets, since 2014. The latest generation went on sale in 2019 and it’s been a popular model in markets such as China, India, and Russia, and is sold in a total of 85 countries around the world.=

Sales in 2022 slipped by 7% compared to 2021’s figure, yet the ix25 is the third best-selling Hyundai overall after the Tuscon and Elantra. It also demonstrates the enduring popularity of this class of car, which make up 10 entries in the top 30 global best-sellers of 2022.

Not quite Volkswagen’s best-selling car overall, the Tiguan Allspace is second in that list behind the Lavida. It does mean the Tiguan Allspace is by far the most numerous of VW’s SUVs in 2022 despite sales slipping by 13% compared to the previous year.

That drop in sales sees the Tiguan Allspace drop to 28th place in 2022 when it previously occupied 25th spot in 2021. VW will take solace in the rising popularity of its T-Roc model, which enjoyed sales of 299,200 to put it just outside the top 30 in 32nd place, which is a rise from 38th in 2021 and an increase in sales of 2%.

2022 was a particularly good year for the Isuzu D-Max with sales up an impressive 10% in 2022 compared to the previous year. The D-Max achieved this impressive growth not so much by dominating a single large market, but by doing well in many smaller territories.

Isuzu saw the D-Max become the number one seller in countries such as Thailand and Kenya, while also taking third spot in the pick-up sector in the vital Australian market. Combined, it makes the D-Max the fifth best-selling pick-up in the world in 2022.

BYD may be a brand that is just launching in Europe, but it is already well established in its home country of China, which saw its overall new car market contract in 2022. That did not affect the Qin, which saw its global sales share rise by 93% in 2022 compared to 2021.

More impressive still was a 119% increase in sales for this model, which is available as a full EV or plug-in hybrid, in China. Such strong sales helped BYD topple Volkswagen as the best-selling brand in China in November 2022 and saw BYD set monthly sales record in six out of the 12 months of the year. Famed American investor Warren Buffett first purchased shares in BYD as early as 2008; his return on the investment has been enormous.

The Suzuki Swift may be a bit part player in the European supermini sector, but as the Maruti it’s a vital part of the company’s sales volume as the best-selling Suzuki in the world in 2022. This is largely due to the huge popularity of the Maruti in India, where it’s locally produced.

With sales of 330,000 Swifts and Marutis in 2022, it climbed into the top 30 for this year from its previous 33rd place in 2021. That was down to a rise in sales of 4% set against drops for many other superminis such as the Toyota Yaris XP210 that fell to 42nd place in 2022.

The ‘LWB’ in this Hyundai Tuscon’s name is important as it denotes the long wheelbase version, which has an extra 75mm between the front and rear axles compared to the model sold in Europe. Most other regions take the LWB as the default model of Tuscon, notably China and the Asian markets.

Launched in 2020, there has been no sign of the Tuscon LWB’s attraction to buyers abating as it saw sales rise by 62% in 2022 compared to those of 2021 as supply returned after the pandemic. That explains why this Hyundai catapulted itself into 24th spot overall in 2022 when it had languished in 77th place in 2021. The standard wheelbase Tuscon sits in 63rd place for 2022’s sales chart, having slipped from 32nd spot in 2021 after a drop in sales of 31% between these two years.

Known as the Escape in the US, this mid-size SUV is more commonly recognised as the Ford Kuga which has been around since 2019. Given the model is well into its life cycle, it’s a testament to its appeal to buyers that it sold just as many cars in 2022 as it did the previous year, with no change in percentage of cars built.

With the small contraction in global car sales in 2022, this helped the Ford Escape/Kuga to move up from 26th place in 2021 to 23rd in 2022. It’s also Ford’s second best-selling car in the world, after the F-150 pick-up.

The Nissan Qashqai, which goes by the name of Rogue Sport in the US, is a perennial strong seller. However, it did slip from 18th place overall in 2021 to 22nd spot in 2022 as sales dropped by 12% to a total of 353,800 in 2022.

This didn’t stop the Qashqai from being the number selling car in the UK in 2022, which is the first time Nissan has achieved this accolade. The importance of the Rogue Sport to this model’s success is underlined by a drop in US sales in 2022 of 34.7% compared to the previous year. Consequently, it was the popularity of the Qashqai that offset this drop for the Rogue Sport version.

Volkswagen’s global unit sales in 2022 were down 7% across the whole company, with its important Lavida model shedding 16% in 2022 compared to 2021. The Lavida is VW’s biggest-selling single model, even though it’s not sold in Europe or the US. It’s a huge hit in China and the Lavida has previously been the biggest-selling car in that market.

A facelift in 2022 was not enough to encourage more sales of the Lavida in China. The fallout from this is the model slips from 15th place overall in 2021 to 21st in 2022 as Chinese buyers prefer the Nissan Sylphy that was the best-seller there in 2022.

Mazda has done well in a slightly declining market to see its CX-5 step up one rung on the ladder of global best-sellers from 21st spot in 2021 to 20th in 2022. This small boost comes courtesy of other cars performing much worse than the CX-5, which saw sales drop by 4% in 2022 compared to those of 2021.

However, the CX-5’s importance to Mazda cannot be emphasised enough as the company’s second best-selling model in 2022 was the CX-30. Its sales of 174,100 are less than half of the CX-5’s and the CX-30 languishes in 102nd place in 2022’s sales chart.

Now in its seventh generation, the Hyundai Elantra, which is also known as the i30 Sedan and Avante in some markets, as the South Korean firm’s best-selling model in 2022. This was despite Elantra sales slipping by 11% from 2021 to 2022.

Some of the dip in sales of the Elantra can be blamed on Hyundai making this first generation of Elantra not to be sold in any European market. Instead, it relies on strong sales in the US, China, and Asia where the car is locally produced in all three markets.

One of the staples of the US pick-up market and the overall car market, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 saw sales slump by 14% between 2021 and 2022. That means the Silverado is very much in third place behind the Dodge Ram 1500 and Ford F-150, even though both of those rivals also saw drops in sales over the same period.

A measure of how far behind Ford the Chevrolet is in sales can be seen from gap between the two. In 2022, the Silverado sold 149,300 fewer units than the F-150. This also explains why the Chevrolet is now in 18th spot in global sales for 2022 compared to 14th place in 2021.

A stalwart of the upper end of global car sales, the Honda Civic and its Integra alter ego sit in 17th place for 2022’s chart. This is down six spots on where it was in 2021 as sales dipped by a considerable 18% from that year to 2022’s figures.

Honda will be less concerned at this drop in sales than some other car manufacturers as the company has three other models inside the top 20 best-sellers. That includes in the CR-V, which enjoys a fourth place in 2022’s overall sales chart.

While Chevrolet saw its Silverado 1500 drop from 14th to 18th place between 2021 and 2022, Ram remained glued to its 16th position in both years. This now puts the Ram two spots higher up the 2022 chart thanks to a slender 18,400 extra sales than the Silverado managed.

This will give Ram-owner Stellantis some cause for cheer, but it’s tempered by the Ram losing 8% in sales between 2021 and 2022’s figures. Even more of a concern will be US sales are dropping more than that 8%, with overall sales numbers bolstered by the Ram’s popularity in the Mexican market.

As with so many of the other cars in the mid-section of 2022’s top 30 global sellers, the Toyota Highlander saw a drop in sales compared to 2021. For this Toyota, it was an 8% fall over the previous year’s number, though the Highlander still notched up 405,600 sales worldwide.

The drop in sales saw the Highlander, and the version called Kluger sold in places like Australia, slip from 13th overall in 2021 to 15th place in 2022. However, Toyota will be fairly relaxed about this given it has five other models sitting above the Highlander in the sales chart, including the top two places overall. A still-larger version of the Highlander called Grand Highlander was unveiled in February 2023 and the US will be its primary market.

Given how cheap the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is, with a price in China equivalent to around £3500, it’s surprising it’s not further the sales chart for 2022. This tiny EV has pert looks and a driving range of up to 170 miles with its most powerful battery option.

As production returned to full strength after the pandemic, supply of the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV caught up with demand and elevated the car from 20th place in 2021 to 14th in 2033. This went hand in hand with a rise in sales of 14% in 2022 compared to the previous year. It’s also one of five EVs to appear in the top 30 chart.

BYD has not been hanging about with the launch if new cars in its home market of China. In 2020, the Song Plus arrived as a compact crossover with petrol and EV power options. A bit bigger all-round than its Song Pro sibling, the Plus is aimed squarely as a more upmarket model.

The Chinese car maker clearly knows its market well as the Song Plus rocketed from 130th place in 2021 to 13th in 2022 with the arrival of the EV model. This now makes up the vast bulk of sales and saw a sensational 210% increase in sales from ’21 to 2022.

One of four Honda models to make it into the top 30 worldwide best-sellers in 2022, the HR-V could count itself lucky not to be further down the rankings than 12th place. A drop in sales of 30% from 2021 to 2022 is a big hit, particularly for a car that is as popular as the HR-V.

Also known as the XR-V and Vezel in certain markets, the HR-V manages to avoid a worse performance as it spreads its sales across so many countries, including Brazil, Pakistan, Australia and China.

Honda will be mildly disappointed to see the Accord, or Inspire as it’s called in some markets, slip out of the top 10 global best sellers in 2021. It falls just one spot to 11th in 2022, which will be doubly annoying for Honda when the Accord retained its sales from one year to the next with no percentage change.

Given the small market globally, Honda might have expected to the Accord to maintain or even improve its position. However, significant sales increases for other cars have pushed them into the top 10 at the expense of the Accord and Honda’s HR-V. Still, a new 11th generation Accord went on sale in 2023 which will presumably assist the matter.

The popularity of EVs in western countries, as well as China, have kept Tesla Model 3 sales strong in 2022. There has been a small softening in 2022, with a 3% drop in sales compared to 2021, but the Model 3 still racked up a very impressive 482,200 sales globally.

The Model 3 is also the second Tesla in the Top 10 for 2022 sales, with the Model Y enjoying a stellar year to take third spot overall. This drop in Model 3 sales means it falls one place from its previous ninth spot in 2021.

The F-150 is by far the most popular version of Ford’s F-Series of pick-up trucks. On its own, the F-150 accounted for 525,100 sales out of a total of 653,957 F-Series models sold in 2022. It puts the F-150 well ahead of its two key rivals, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Dodge Ram 1500.

Ford helped the appeal of the F-150 by introducing the electric Lightning model early in 2022, with demand outstripping supply. However, it still wasn’t enough to prevent the F-150 sliding from eighth overall in 2021 to ninth in 2022.

There can be few more incredible jumps in sales position from 2021 to 2022 than the Toyota Corolla Cross, or Frontlander as it’s also called. In 2021, it sat in 115th place, yet it leapfrogged to eighth overall in 2022. Launched in 2020, the Corolla Cross suffered from pandemic-induced supply shortages, which is why it only came on full stream in 2022.

Regardless of this, Toyota will be pleased to focus on the Corolla Cross enjoying a 221% increase in sales from 2021 to 2022. This is the biggest percentage increase of any car inside the top 50 of global best-sellers in 2022.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride when it comes to the top spot of global best-sellers, the Nissan Sentra and its Sylphy twin continue to deliver strongly for the Japanese firm. It may have slipped from fourth place in 2021 to seventh in 2022, with an 18% dip between the two years, but the Nissan still shifted 566,500 units in 12 months.

The eighth generation of this Nissan model is built in China, Mexico, and Taiwan, which places production at the heart of its key markets.

Anywhere in the world you need a tough 4x4, you can bet the Toyota Hilux will be among the top selling cars in that country. From Australia to Lebanon, via all points of the compass, the Hilux is routinely the best-selling car in many regions.

Even with this reputation, Toyota will be buoyed by 2022’s performance that sees the Hilux increase sales by 13% over 2021’s. That’s enough to move the Hilux up one place to sixth overall in 2022 from seventh the previous year, and it makes the Hilux the world’s most popular pick-up.

The Camry is a lynchpin of Toyota’s huge global sales, even if it isn’t grabbing headlines in the way the Hilux or RAV4 manage. Rather, the Camry just gets on providing plenty of drivers with comfortable, reliable transport to the point where it’s a byword in the US for a faultless ownership experience.

This is why so many drivers in the US and other markets keep coming back to the Camry, and why it shifted 673,300 units in 2022 at a time when rivals like Ford and GM are quitting the saloon arena entirely. That was down a mere 1% on 2021’s sales, though this was enough for the Camry to cede its best-selling car status in Australia to the Tesla Model 3.

Fourth spot overall for sales in 2022 is an exceptionally good position to be in, yet the Honda CR-V and its Breeze version shed 18% in sales from 2021’s figure to 2022’s. In the US alone, the CR-V lost more than 123,000 in sales from ’21 to ’22.

That huge drop in US sales accounts for almost 17% of the CR-V’s dip in sales, which will be some cold comfort for Honda that at least it’s not losing sales across the globe. The drop also has a lot to do with the massive rise in sales of the Tesla Model Y as more US buyers look to an EV in place of a petrol-powered car.

From 19th place in 2021 to third overall in 2022 is a mighty achievement for the Tesla Model Y. The increasing demand for EVs plays a large part in this success story that sees Model Y sales improve by 91% year on year from 2021 to 2022.

Another factor is the Model Y is the right car for the market just now as buyers want SUVs but without the associated running costs. This is why the Tesla is now routinely topping overall sales charts in many European countries.

The world’s largest selling model name ever continues in a similar vein to previous years, though for the second year running it has to give top spot to its sister model, the RAV4. Even so, sales of almost one million will keep the Corolla happily ahead of all its main competitors and the best-selling car in many countries.

What will be more telling is if the Corolla, and its Levin saloon version, continue to manage decline such as the 10% drop in sales in 2022 compared to 2021. With the Tesla Model Y rising through the ranks so quickly and strongly, Toyota could be in danger of losing its grip on the top two places in this chart in coming years.

For the second year in a row, the Toyota RAV4 is the world’s best-selling car, and the only one to top a million units produced in the 12 months of 2022. It’s a hugely impressive feat, helped by the ongoing demand for mid-sized SUVs in many of the largest markets around the world.

What will occupy Toyota’s minds more, though, will be the 10% drop in sales of the RAV4, and its identical Wildlander sister, in 2022 compared to 2021. This thought will be further sharpened by the huge jump in sales made by the all-electric Tesla Model Y in third spot. Still, there is comfort in the knowledge the RAV4 remained the category leader in the US and several other key markets in 2022.

SUVs/Crossovers: 13

Hatchback: 6

Saloons: 5

Pickups: 6

Data from www.fiatgroupworld.com