Felipe Munoz, an automotive industry analyst from respected firm JATO Dynamics, reports the Toyota RAV4 (also known as the Wildlander) took the top spot with 1,187,000 deliveries globally in 2024, representing an increase of 11 per cent on its 2023 figure.
In second place was the Tesla Model Y, which lost its best-seller status from 2023, with a total of 1,185,000 deliveries in 2024. Given the figures are rounded to the nearest thousand, there were less than 3000 deliveries between the popular petrol and electric SUVs.
The result also represented a drop of three per cent for the Model Y, which had managed 1,223,000 deliveries in 2023, well ahead of the RAV4’s then-1,075,000 figure.
According to Munoz, the RAV4’s win was “a remarkable achievement for the Toyota, as it was the last full year of the current generation”, with a new-generation version breaking cover in May. Likewise, an updated Model Y wasn’t revealed until December, and only started deliveries earlier this year.
It was a different story in Australia, where the RAV4 was the second-best seller in 2024 with 58,718 deliveries, behind the top-selling Ford Ranger (62,593 deliveries).
While the Model Y managed 21,253 deliveries to become the most popular EV for the second year in a row, sales of the SUV fell by a huge 26.1 per cent.
This year, sales of the Model Y have continued to slump, and are down more than 27 per cent on last year with 6974 deliveries between January and May. By comparison, Toyota has delivered 21,613 RAV4s across the same period, a slight 0.5 per cent increase on 2023’s figures.
On the global stage last year, the RAV4 and Model Y were trailed by the Toyota Corolla Cross (also sold as the Frontlander), which experienced an 18 per cent increase to 859,000 deliveries. It too pipped its next rival, the Honda CR-V (or Breeze) by a narrow margin of less than 5000 examples.
The Toyota Corolla finished the year in fifth place, being the most popular traditional passenger vehicle, despite a significant 11 per cent drop in deliveries to 697,000 examples. The HiLux too managed to be the best-selling ute/pickup, despite an even larger drop in popularity of 15 per cent.
Behind it was the Ford F-150 – often referred to as the best-selling vehicle in the US, though that title belongs to the wider F-Series lineup – which pipped past the Toyota Camry. Tesla’s Model 3 held onto its ninth-place spot, ahead of the BYD Qin locking out the top 10.
With a new RAV4 on the way and an updated Model Y already in showrooms, it’s not yet known how the 2025 sales race will shake out.
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