The Best-Selling Vehicles of Last Year
America’s car market in 2025 continued a long-running theme: pickup trucks and SUVs dominate, with a few compact cars and electrified vehicles still making strong showings. Below is a breakdown of this year’s top sellers and what buyers are choosing — from workhorses and family crossovers to efficient sedans and emerging EV contenders.
Ford Transit
156,611 units sold
Ford Maverick
155,051 units sold
Subaru Forester
175,070 units sold
Chevrolet Trax
206,339 units sold
Kia Sportage
182,823 units sold
The Kia Sportage managed to make the list this year thanks to sales up as much as 40.1%. It’s not a huge leap compared to some of the other models mentioned above, but it’s a notable improvement. Much of it might have to do with the vehicle’s redesign with a roomier interior, tech features, and improved driving performance.
Honda Civic
238,661 units sold
The aggressively sporty design language that Honda has chosen for its latest generation of the Civic has pushed the compact car ahead of its compact competitors (including the Toyota Corolla). It still lags behind America’s best-selling car, the Camry, however. The vehicle’s ranking as one of the best-selling cars has dropped this past year considerably, missing the top 10. Sales were down -49.2%.
Subaru Outback
157,716 units sold
After many years, the Outback slipped to Subaru’s second best-selling vehicle…by only 100 units! Technically, it’s a station wagon (and the only station wagon on the list), but don’t tell the masses! They’ve convinced themselves that the Outback is a “short” crossover. Whatever works; the sales numbers don’t lie.
Subaru Crosstrek
191,724 units sold
While sales numbers across the industry were down, Subaru actually had a pretty good year. The automaker had three models on the top 30 list in 2021. That’s an improvement from a couple of years ago. While we think the Crosstrek is just a lifted wagon, all of the sporty plastic cladding draws buyers to this “crossover.”
Hyundai Tucson
234,230 units sold
In past years, Hyundai’s top seller was the Elantra. Now Hyundai has caught up with the rest of the industry by having a compact crossover as its #1 model. With a spunky redesign in 2021 (sold as a 2022 model year), the sales of the Tucson may keep climbing higher and higher.
Jeep Wrangler
167,322 units sold
A couple of years ago, Jeep’s iconic boxy off-roader was the brand’s top-seller. The excitement has died down from a redesign released a couple of years ago, but a new plug-in electric version released this year may have helped boost things.
Nissan Rogue
217,896 units sold
The Nissan Rogue took a tumble in 2020 to 12th place. Typically, it had been in the top 10 best-sellers. But that year, Nissan was rolling out a new updated Rogue and so sales were start/stop until dealers cleared the old model and go their hands on the newer version. Sales took off again in 2021, the first full year the new model was on the market. In fact, sales were up 25% in 2021.
Tesla Model 3 (EV)
172,800 units sold
This year, history was made. For the first time ever, TWO fully electric vehicles ranked in the top 30 most-sold in the country for a calendar year. The Tesla Model 3 used to be Tesla’s #1 selling model…that is, until its SUV-ish cousin the Model Y debuted. The Model Y beat it this year, but the Model 3 still sold an estimated 198,200 units.
Ford Explorer
222,706 units sold
Ford bungled the rollout of the redesigned 2020 Explorer when it released in calendar year 2019. With production issues, low availability, and competition from a newly redesigned Toyota Highlander, the Explorer dropped -5.5% compared to 2021.
Chevrolet Equinox
274,356 units sold
Chevy only has two models on this list of top 30 best-sellers. The Equinox is consistently Chevrolet’s second-best performer (after the Silverado). But it took a tumble in 2021 all the way down to 17th place after a 7th-place finish in 2020. A redesign for the aging current generation is needed to keep things on the up-and-up. This year, the Equinox is making a comeback with sales up 28.3%!
Toyota Corolla
248,088 units sold
The Corolla is one of the few passenger cars to have passed 200,000 units sold in 2022. A redesigned 2020 model (including a brand-new hybrid offering) helped to entice more buyers. Still, it fell just outside the top 10, a place where it has been firmly entrenched during the previous decade.
Jeep Grand Cherokee
210,082 units sold
Jeep’s Grand Cherokee lept to the top of Jeep’s pack of models as the best-selling midsize SUV. It’s no coincidence that Jeep’s largest model was on a sales high when gas prices were low. Now that they are starting to creep up with inflation, time will tell if it will remain Jeep’s top-seller. An updated redesign is on the way this year, which should help.
Tesla Model Y
317,800 units sold
The Tesla Model Y is selling like hotcakes, and it is one of TWO purely electric vehicles on this list. Yes, for the first time ever, there are two different electric car models in the top 30 best-sold in the U.S. Tesla’s Model 3 is the only other electric car to sell near this number in a single calendar year.
Toyota Tacoma
274,638 units sold
We told you to get ready to see Toyota’s name. Much like compact crossovers, mid-size pickup trucks also saw big sales gains. The Tacoma, however, is the only mid-size truck that makes this list. Its sales show no signs of slowing as a redesigned model is on the horizon. Compared to 2021, the Tacoma sales dropped -14.5%.
GMC Sierra
348,222 units sold
The Sierra trail’s the big 3’s truck models by a considerable margin, but GMC is making up ground since its 2019 redesigned with an innovative tailgate. Most carmakers struggled to keep inventory in 2021, and that may have plagued GMC, too. Sales were mostly flat, only down -34.1% compared to the previous year.
Toyota Camry
316,185 units sold
The Toyota Camry is still the best-selling car in America, but it has fallen from higher positions in recent years as buyers move toward crossover SUVs. But in 2022, its sales were actually down by -5.9%. So all the doom and gloom about people not buying sedans doesn’t necessarily hold true for the Camry.
Toyota RAV4
479,288 units sold
The #1 SUV and #1 non-truck in the U.S. is the best-selling Toyota RAV4, which underscores just how important the 2019 redesign was for the RAV4. Toyota didn’t want to mess with a good thing. Thankfully, we still find it one of the best bets in the segment.
Chevrolet Silverado
577,434 units sold
Chevy and Ram both released redesigned models in 2019. And in a surprising win for Ram, it helped them hop into 2nd place above Chevy. The trend didn’t continue in 2020, as Chevrolet’s Silverado squeaked out a few more sales to win back the 2nd place spot behind perennial leader Ford.
Ford F-Series
801,525 units sold
There should be no surprise here. Ford’s F-Series of trucks tops the best-seller’s list for the 35th year in a row. We’ll see you at the top again next year, Ford.
