Toyota RAV4 Surpasses Ford F-150 as Top-Selling Vehicle in America

[Chrysler375Freeway]

I read a report earlier in the year that said the Toyota RAV4 surpassed the Ford F150 in sales this year, even though the F150 is still ahead of all other full-size trucks in sales. Something tells me that the tide has likely been changing for a while, but what caused the F150 to lose its top-seller spot to the RAV4 after nearly 50 years of being America's best-selling vehicle, considering the F150 and its derivative (Super Duty) were the best-selling vehicle in nearly half of all U.S. states in 2024?

EDIT: The F-150 was also surpassed in 2009 by the Toyota Camry.

[NJRoadfan]

If it wasn't for GM splitting up the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado sales, they'd likely be the ones claiming the #1 spot.

[Max Rockatansky]

Now my wife wants a RAV4.  She's waiting for the new generation to come out for the 2026 model year.  We'll probably be keeping her Forester and turning it into a dedicated high clearance vehicle.

[LilianaUwU]

Trucks WOULD be the biggest selling vehicles in America.

[Rothman]

Now my wife wants a RAV4.  She's waiting for the new generation to come out for the 2026 model year.  We'll probably be keeping her Forester and turning it into a dedicated high clearance vehicle.

We test drove a Forester and a RAV4 and went with the Forester this past spring.  I'm 5'10" on a good day and my wife is a little taller than me.  RAV4 felt a lot more cramped.

Not sure how you turn a Forester into a dedicated high clearance vehicle, though.  Lift it?   I was just going to put some beefy tires on ours, but it's a hybrid, which means finding room for a spare is a creative endeavor.

On a tangent, although I'm more than happy to put our 2020 Nissan Rogue in the rear-view mirror for all sorts of reasons, we do miss its larger cargo space compared to the Forester...

[Max Rockatansky]

Now my wife wants a RAV4.  She's waiting for the new generation to come out for the 2026 model year.  We'll probably be keeping her Forester and turning it into a dedicated high clearance vehicle.

We test drove a Forester and a RAV4 and went with the Forester this past spring.  I'm 5'10" on a good day and my wife is a little taller than me.  RAV4 felt a lot more cramped.

Not sure how you turn a Forester into a dedicated high clearance vehicle, though.  Lift it?   I was just going to put some beefy tires on ours, but it's a hybrid, which means finding room for a spare is a creative endeavor.

On a tangent, although I'm more than happy to put our 2020 Nissan Rogue in the rear-view mirror for all sorts of reasons, we do miss its larger cargo space compared to the Forester...

I thinking of starting with dedicated off road tires for the Forester and going from there.  It did pretty well on Chowchilla Mountain Road in street tires and stock clearance (although it was dry that day).  We'll see how Jessica feels about all this, I kind of overwhelmed her when I first brought it up.

[Scott5114]

Trucks WOULD be the biggest selling vehicles in America.

What else are you going to belch black smoke at bicyclists with?

[Max Rockatansky]

Trucks WOULD be the biggest selling vehicles in America.

What else are you going to belch black smoke at bicyclists with?

A 1990 Geo Metro with a bad head gasket and leaking exhaust of course.

[Scott5114]

Trucks WOULD be the biggest selling vehicles in America.

What else are you going to belch black smoke at bicyclists with?

A 1990 Geo Metro with a bad head gasket and leaking exhaust of course.

This is true? - Geo oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[oscar]

Not sure how you turn a Forester into a dedicated high clearance vehicle, though.  Lift it?   I was just going to put some beefy tires on ours, but it's a hybrid, which means finding room for a spare is a creative endeavor.

On a tangent, although I'm more than happy to put our 2020 Nissan Rogue in the rear-view mirror for all sorts of reasons, we do miss its larger cargo space compared to the Forester...

Beefy tires might not be an easy substitute for lifting the suspension. You'd need to make sure your larger tires would fit in the wheel wells, and not rub against the fenders whenever you go over a bump.

I added a full-size spare to my 2018 Forester (and have had to use it several times, sometimes out in the middle of nowhere, so it's a must for me). The full-size spare doesn't fit where the space-saver spare goes, and hogs a lot of space in the main trunk compartment. An Outback might have more room for a full-size spare. If I had to replace my Forester (almost 313K on the odometer), I might replace it with an Outback, or a non-Subaru car.

[Ted$8roadFan]

This seems reminiscent of 1989, when the Honda Accord became the top-selling vehicle. The first foreign model to do so, IIRC.

[Max Rockatansky]

Not sure how you turn a Forester into a dedicated high clearance vehicle, though.  Lift it?   I was just going to put some beefy tires on ours, but it's a hybrid, which means finding room for a spare is a creative endeavor.

On a tangent, although I'm more than happy to put our 2020 Nissan Rogue in the rear-view mirror for all sorts of reasons, we do miss its larger cargo space compared to the Forester...

Beefy tires might not be an easy substitute for lifting the suspension. You'd need to make sure your larger tires would fit in the wheel wells, and not rub against the fenders whenever you go over a bump.

I added a full-size spare to my 2018 Forester (and have had to use it several times, sometimes out in the middle of nowhere, so it's a must for me). The full-size spare doesn't fit where the space-saver spare goes, and hogs a lot of space in the main trunk compartment. An Outback might have more room for a full-size spare. If I had to replace my Forester (almost 313K on the odometer), I might replace it with an Outback, or a non-Subaru car.

Jessica's Forester is probably going to need some suspension and transmission work anyways.  The steering column is making some strange noises I keep telling her that need to be looked into.  I'm also getting a little concerned about her transmission (a CVT) which on occasion clunks pretty hard if it has upshift and then suddenly downshift quickly. 

Her Forester has about 210,000 miles on it and is maybe worth $4,000 at this point.  It would be the ideal project vehicle to work on at her dad's house.  She is also pushing to get a small camper instead and that might override some of my ambitions once she gets her RAV4.

[kphoger]

Trucks WOULD be the biggest selling vehicles in America.

Yes, you should be glad you live in Canada, where the top four selling vehicles are... oh, wait... Ford F-150, Toyota RAV4, GMC Sierra, and Ram 1500.  And where one out of every five new vehicles sold is a pickup truck.

[mgk920]

Darn . . .

 

Mike

[Chrysler375Freeway]

This seems reminiscent of 1989, when the Honda Accord became the top-selling vehicle. The first foreign model to do so, IIRC.

And the F150 was surpassed again 20 years later by a different vehicle, the Toyota Camry.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Trucks WOULD be the biggest selling vehicles in America.

MURICA

That being said, this doesn't really surprise me. The RAV4 is a really solid SUV that checks a lot of boxes, is a good value for the money, and gets pretty decent fuel mileage compared to the competition. The base model non-hybrid RAV4 gets better fuel mileage than both my Camry and my wife's much newer Kia Soul.

[SP Cook]

Toyota having the best selling model via this segment is important.  There are nearly a dozen similar vehicles.

This is the secret to the F150 success.  Because of the Chicken Tax the full-size truck segment has never had more than five manufacturers and six brands (Toyota, Ford, GM-Chevrolet, GM-GMC, and Stellantis-Ram currently, with Nissan having given up) so everyone who wants a full-size truck is in that four way battle.  But if a person wants any other type vehicle, there are upwards of a dozen choices, meaning winning in such a segment is really impressive.

[gonealookin]

I'm coming up on 30 years of driving nothing but RAV4s.  I bought one of the first sold at that dealership in 1996.  The Ford Explorer seemed like almost the right vehicle for me but just a bit bigger than I wanted, so when Toyota said they were going to sell basically a smaller Explorer I figured that's what I had been looking for.

That first one lasted about 180K/16 years.  As maintenance started adding up I replaced it with a 2012, which I think may have been the final year they were putting in 6-cylinder engines.  The extra power was a big improvement, as the 96 4-cylinder was underpowered for mountain roads (I moved from the Bay Area to Tahoe in 2009).  So that's now about 140K/13 years with the second one.

If I get another four years out of the 2012, there's likely one final vehicle in my future before I get a last ride in a hearse.  It doesn't have to be a third RAV4 but that would be a leading contender.

[WillWeaverRVA]

I'm coming up on 30 years of driving nothing but RAV4s.  I bought one of the first sold at that dealership in 1996.  The Ford Explorer seemed like almost the right vehicle for me but just a bit bigger than I wanted, so when Toyota said they were going to sell basically a smaller Explorer I figured that's what I had been looking for.

That first one lasted about 180K/16 years.  As maintenance started adding up I replaced it with a 2012, which I think may have been the final year they were putting in 6-cylinder engines.  The extra power was a big improvement, as the 96 4-cylinder was underpowered for mountain roads (I moved from the Bay Area to Tahoe in 2009).  So that's now about 140K/13 years with the second one.

If I get another four years out of the 2012, there's likely one final vehicle in my future before I get a last ride in a hearse.  It doesn't have to be a third RAV4 but that would be a leading contender.

Can't say I blame you. Once my 2007 Camry bites the dust, I'm seriously considering a RAV4 as my next car if I don't just get another Camry.

[JREwing78]

Don't know where OP found their info, but currently the F-Series is in the lead by about 140,000 vehicles YTD over the RAV4. 
https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2025-u-s-auto-sales-figures-by-model-all-vehicle-ranked-2/

Other info (all numbers YTD):

- Silverado (239,526) + Sierra (140,930) are at 380,456 to the F-Series 342,971

- The Sierra's sales are up damn near 50% year to year from last year, from 95,673 to 140,930. If you're going to pony up the cash for a brand new pickup, might as well make it "Professional Grade", right?

- RAV4 is #3 to the Silverado and F-Series with 202,641. CR-V is #4, only down by 20,000 to the RAV4.

- Mildly surprised (pleasantly) at the Ram for 5th place with 140,930. For all the sturm and drang about Stellantis' mis-mangement and the missing Hemi, they're still moving plenty of trucks. But pulling 15% of the market to GM's 41% and Ford's 37% is kind of embarrassing.

- Speaking of embarrassing, Toyota's 6.8% share of full-size trucks is pretty lame (particularly with Nissan out of the market). 

- Seriously, why the sudden love for GMC?

[Max Rockatansky]

Is that list you found separating light duty and heavy duty trucks?  While the F150, 250 and 350 are all "F Series" trucks not every publication agrees that they are part of the same model.

For example Motortrend and Car and Driver see this completely differently:

https://www.motortrend.com/features/best-selling-cars-trucks-suvs-2024#google_vignette

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g60385784/bestselling-cars-2024/

I am of the opinion that light and heavy duty truck chassis's are different enough that they shouldn't be considered the same model.  By that interpretation (one Motortrend agreed with) the RAV4 was the sales winner for 2024 in the U.S.

[Henry]

This seems reminiscent of 1989, when the Honda Accord became the top-selling vehicle. The first foreign model to do so, IIRC.

And the F150 was surpassed again 20 years later by a different vehicle, the Toyota Camry.

And everybody knows that the Corolla is the reigning best-selling vehicle of all time (plus there's also the Tacoma, the best-selling compact/midsize truck in America, and the Prius, the best-selling hybrid ever). Which makes my choice easier if I ever were to switch over to a foreign brand, with five potential vehicles on the table.

[kphoger]

the Toyota RAV4 surpassed the Ford F150 in sales this year

currently the F-Series is in the lead

While the F150, 250 and 350 are all "F Series" trucks ...

This.

F-150 ∈ F-series

[SP Cook]

And everybody knows that the Corolla is the reigning best-selling vehicle of all time

Not so fast, my friend.  Corolla is the best selling NAMEPLATE of all time.  As with all modern vehicles, an "all new" version comes out every half-decade or so.  There have been twelve different vehicles called "Corolla" sold in the US market, plus a thirteenth version that was sold as a Scion here, but as a Corolla elsewhere.  Each is a totally different vehicle, totally different design, no interchangeable parts between generations, etc.

Toyota has sold over 50M vehicles badged as "Corolla" since 1966, but no one generation has sold more than 5M.
The best selling CAR of all time is the Volkswagen Type 1, AKA "Beetle", which sold 21.5M of the same model between 1936 and 2003.  Yes, there were improvements and changes, but it was the same car, designed by Dr. Porsche, all those years.

[Takumi]

I'm not surprised. The RAV4 is a good all-around vehicle that's more comfort-oriented than a truck, and one of its biggest competitors, the Honda CR-V, has taken a nosedive in quality in recent years. I considered a RAV4 before ultimately deciding on a Nissan Frontier for my new DD, because I wanted the truck bed after having had to borrow a truck for some house-related things, and didn't feel like paying the Tacoma Tax. But I have recommended the RAV4 to others who are in the market.