Top Selling Cars of 2024: Who Became the Global Leader?

Sales statistics for new cars in major global markets for 2024 were published earlier this year. However, calculating the overall global sales ranking traditionally takes more time. Only now has JATO Dynamics completed all the statistical calculations, and its analyst Felipe Munoz has published the list of the top ten best-selling cars in the world for 2024.

The Toyota RAV4 crossover has surged to the first place, showing an 11% growth at the tail end of its fifth-generation production cycle, with a total of 1,187,000 units sold! It's worth noting that this figure includes the Toyota Wildlander model for the Chinese market, which is essentially the RAV4 with a different front design. The sixth-generation Toyota RAV4 has already been introduced and is set to launch globally by the end of this year. The electric crossover Tesla Model Y, which ranked first in 2023, took the silver this time, albeit with a minimal gap from the leader: 1,185,000 units sold, marking a 3% decline from the previous year. Given the waning interest in Teslas in key markets, Model Y is unlikely to reclaim the top spot this year.

The Toyota Corolla Cross, another Toyota, rounds out the top three best-sellers of 2024: 859,000 units sold (including the Chinese variations under the name Frontlander). This model displayed the best dynamics in the top ten, with an 18% increase in sales! Interestingly, a top manager of Toyota’s European division recently admitted that the Corolla Cross could have been sold in higher numbers if it weren't for its somewhat dull design.

The mid-sized Honda CR-V crossover (854,000 units, including the Chinese version Honda Breez), a direct competitor to Toyota RAV4, took the fourth place. Fifth was the Toyota Corolla/Levin, although JATO’s statistics oddly counted only the sedans, resulting in 697,000 units sold — an 11% drop from the previous year. Hatchbacks and station wagons were tallied separately. The main factor behind the sales decline, however, is the pressure from the similarly named crossover, which is evident from the diverging sales trends.

The sixth and seventh places in the global ranking are occupied by two pickup trucks — the global Toyota Hilux (617,000 units), which plunged by 15%, and the North American Ford F-150 (595,000 units), with only a 2% decrease in demand. Eighth and ninth are global sedans Toyota Camry (593,000 units, an 8% drop) and Tesla Model 3 (560,000 units, a 10% increase).

Finally, rounding out JATO’s top-10 global ranking is the Chinese sedan BYD Qin: 502,000 units sold with a 6% growth, although this model is scarcely represented outside China. More importantly, half of the top ten best-selling models in 2024 carry the Toyota brand.