The Toyota RAV4 is quickly cementing itself as one of the bestselling car models in the world. At the end of February, the compact crossover’s total sales since the introduction of the first generation in 1994 crossed over the 10 million mark. Specifically, Toyota had sold 10,080,834 examples. And since the crossover is still on sale, that number will continue to increase.
In comparison to some of the most famous top-selling cars, it’s closing rapidly on the Ford Model T, which sold over 15 million examples, and is about halfway to matching the original VW Beetle’s over 20 million sales. It still has a ways to go to catch the Corolla, which as of 2016, had sold over 44 million units over the model’s multi-generational history.
With the way RAV4 sales are going, it could overtake the Model T in just a few years, provided that car sales and the economy bounce back quickly following the coronavirus crisis. In 2019, just over 965,000 RAV4s were sold, making up nearly a tenth of the nameplate’s total sales. It’s part of a trend showing almost constantly improving global sales for the crossover. In its first year of 1994, just over 53,000 RAV4s were sold. Ten years later, nearly 240,000 sold. In 2014, over 643,000 found homes. Those numbers also show just how popular crossovers and SUVs have become over the years.
The United States is a big contributor to the RAV4’s sales success. It was Toyota’s outright bestseller last year, beating the Corolla and Camry numbers each by over 100,000 units. It’s still the brand’s bestseller this year. And the total U.S. sales last year of about 448,000 units means that nearly half of the RAV4s sold in 2019 were in America.
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