High 10 best-selling vehicles within the U.S. in 2023

DETROIT – America maintained its love affair with pickup vans in 2023 — however a top-selling car from Toyota Motor almost ruined their tailgate social gathering.

Gross sales of the Toyota RAV4 compact crossover got here inside 10,000 items of Stellantis‘ Ram pickup truck final yr, a near-No. 3 rating that might have marked the primary time since 2014 {that a} non-pickup claimed one of many high three U.S. gross sales podium positions.

The RAV4 has quickly closed the hole: In 2020, the car undersold the Ram truck by greater than 133,000 items. Final yr, it lagged by simply 9,983. Stellantis offered 444,926 Ram pickups final yr, a 5% decline from 2022.

“Trucks are always at the top because they’re bought by not only individuals, but also fleet buyers and we saw heavy fleet buying last year,” stated Michelle Krebs, an govt analyst at Cox Automotive. “The RAV4 shows that people want affordable, smaller SUVs, and the fact that there’s also a hybrid version of that makes it popular with people.”

At 750,789 items offered, Ford Motor’s F-Sequence pickups, which embody the F-150 and its bigger siblings, led the business for the 42^nd consecutive yr. They have been adopted by General Motors’ Chevrolet Silverado pickup with gross sales of 543,780 items.

Rounding out the highest 5 have been the RAV4 at 434,943 items offered and the Tesla Mannequin Y at 394,497, in keeping with information and gross sales estimates from Motor Intelligence. (Tesla doesn’t disclose regional gross sales by car.) The Mannequin Y moved up one position within the rankings in contrast with 2022.

The success of the RAV4 is notable. It aligns with Toyota’s growing lead as America’s second bestselling automaker, behind GM however outselling Ford annually since 2020.

Toyota first overtook Ford through the coronavirus pandemic and has continued to extend its gross sales lead since, outpacing the Detroit automaker by greater than 250,000 items in 2023.

The Japanese automaker additionally notably bested GM to change into the country’s top-selling automaker for the primary time ever in 2021 amid main manufacturing and provide chain disruptions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. GM has since reclaimed its crown and outsold Toyota by tons of of hundreds of automobiles in 2022 and 2023.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, stated the RAV4 in addition to the Honda CR-V, which ranked sixth final yr in gross sales, provide one thing fully totally different than American pickups: Small, economical automobiles that match many American’s life and budgets amid excessive rates of interest and financial uncertainty.

“It’s all these other problems that we’ve experienced throughout the last year that kind of force people into practical purchases,” he stated. “I think these vehicles speak to the most practical purchase you can buy.”

New car gross sales have been stronger and extra constant than anticipated all through 2023, notching the business’s greatest yr of sales since 2019.

Motor Intelligence studies automakers offered 15.6 million automobiles within the U.S. in 2023, a 12.3% enhance from 2022. That compares with greater than 17 million automobiles offered in 2019 earlier than the coronavirus pandemic upending the worldwide auto market.

December gross sales, which have been reported this week, have been surprisingly robust, as automakers upped incentive spending to maneuver merchandise.

Auto gross sales to finish the yr elevated 13% in contrast with December 2022, greater than double some analyst forecasts.

Automotive analysts and forecasters expect sales this year to be between roughly 15.6 million and 16.1 million automobiles. GM stated Wednesday it expects the industry to hit 16 million items offered in 2024.

Listed here are the ten bestselling automobiles within the U.S. by unit gross sales for 2023, in keeping with Motor Intelligence.