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.

It sells one in five new cars in Australia, more than double its nearest rival.
Top 10 global sellers
Model | Sales |
Toyota RAV4 | 1,187,000 |
Tesla Model Y | 1,185,000 |
Toyota Corolla Cross | 859,000 |
Honda CR-V | 854,000 |
Toyota Corolla | 697,000 |
Toyota HiLux | 617,000 |
Ford F-150 | 595,000 |
Toyota Camry | 593,000 |
Tesla Model 3 | 560,000 |
BYD Qin | 502,000 |
Source: @carindustryanalysis Instagram