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Toyota is back on top: Toyota RAV4 family SUV takes back its crown from the Tesla Model Y electric SUV at the top of the global sales charts with BYD nowhere in sight

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Dom Tripolone
News Editor
1 Jul 2025
3 min read

Toyota has taken the fight to Tesla, and won.

The Japanese giant didn’t have the best selling car in the world in its stable in 2023, after losing it to the Tesla Model Y. 2024 was a different story, with the RAV4 sneaking past the electric SUV to sit atop the podium.

Industry analyst, Felipe Munoz, revealed the latest data on Instagram. He accumulated the sales info from 153 markets, which he said covers 99 per cent of the world’s sales.

It was a close race with the RAV4 pipping the Model Y at the post, with a lead of just 2000 vehicles.

Toyota sold about 1,187,000 RAV4s, which was a jump of 11 per cent compared to the year before. The Model Y’s sales dropped three per cent compared to 2023, which accounted for 1,185,000 sales.

Toyota’s dominance wasn’t confined to the RAV4, with the Corolla Cross compact SUV (859,00), Toyota Corolla sedan and hatch (697,000), Toyota HiLux ute (617,000) and Toyota Camry sedan (593,000) all making the top 10 for global best sellers.

The Japanese brand’s dominance puts Chinese upstart BYD’s growing popularity in perspective. The brand only had one vehicle in the top 10 globally, the Qin sedan with 502,000 sales.

The rest of the top 10 consisted of the Honda CR-V (854,000), Ford F-150 (595,000) and Tesla Model 3 (560,000).

The RAV4’s dominance is expected to continue in 2025, with the Tesla Model Y’s sales struggles this year widely reported.

A new generation RAV4 is due next year, which could further catapult it up the global stage in 2026.

Toyota’s global dominance is mimicked in Australia, where the automotive giant dominates the sales charts.

Toyota RAV4
Toyota RAV4

It sells one in five new cars in Australia, more than double its nearest rival.

Top 10 global sellers

ModelSales
Toyota RAV41,187,000
Tesla Model Y1,185,000
Toyota Corolla Cross859,000
Honda CR-V854,000
Toyota Corolla697,000
Toyota HiLux617,000
Ford F-150595,000
Toyota Camry593,000
Tesla Model 3560,000
BYD Qin502,000

Source: @carindustryanalysis Instagram

Dom Tripolone
News Editor
Dom is Sydney born and raised and one of his earliest memories of cars is sitting in the back seat of his dad's BMW coupe that smelled like sawdust. He aspired to be a newspaper journalist from a young age and started his career at the Sydney Morning Herald working in the Drive section before moving over to News Corp to report on all things motoring across the company's newspapers and digital websites. Dom has embraced the digital revolution and joined CarsGuide as News Editor, where he finds joy in searching out the most interesting and fast-paced news stories on the brands you love. In his spare time Dom can be found driving his young son from park to park.
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