The 10 best-selling cars in the US in 2023

DETROIT – The United States maintained its love affair with pickup trucks in 2023, but a best-selling vehicle of ToyotaEngine It almost ruined their tailgate party.

Sales of the Toyota RAV4 compact crossover approached 10,000 units stellantis‘Ram truck last year, almost No. 3 in the ranking which would have marked the first time since 2014 that a non-truck model claimed one of the top three positions on the US sales podium.

The RAV4 has quickly closed the gap: In 2020, the vehicle outsold the Ram truck by more than 133,000 units. Last year, it fell behind by just 9,983. Stellantis sold 444,926 Ram trucks last year, a 5% decrease from 2022.

“Trucks are always on top because they are bought not only by individuals but also by fleet buyers and last year we saw huge fleet purchases,” said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive. “The RAV4 shows that people want smaller, more affordable SUVs, and the fact that there is also a hybrid version makes it popular with people.”

With 750,789 units sold, Ford Motors F-series trucks, including the F-150 and its older siblings, led the industry for 42 years.^{North Dakota} consecutive year. They were followed by General Motors’ Chevrolet Silverado truck with sales of 543,780 units.

Rounding out the top five were the RAV4 with 434,943 units sold and the tesla Model Y at 394,497, according to data and sales estimates from Motor Intelligence. (tesla does not disclose regional sales by vehicle). The Model Y moved up one position in the rankings compared to 2022.

The success of the RAV4 is remarkable. It aligns with Toyota’s growing lead as the second-best-selling automaker in the United States, behind GM but outselling Ford every year since 2020.

Toyota surpassed Ford for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic and has continued to increase its sales lead since then, surpassing the Detroit automaker by more than 250,000 units in 2023.

The Japanese automaker also notably surpassed GM to become the country’s best-selling automaker for the first time in 2021, amid major production and supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. GM has since regained its crown and outsold Toyota by hundreds of thousands of vehicles in 2022 and 2023.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, said both the RAV4 and the Honda CR-V, which ranked sixth last year in sales, offer something completely different from American trucks: small, affordable vehicles that fit the needs of consumers. lifestyles and budgets of many Americans amid high interest rates and economic uncertainty.

“It’s all these other issues we’ve experienced over the last year that are forcing people to make practical purchases,” he said. “I think these vehicles represent the most practical purchase you can buy.”

New vehicle sales were stronger and more consistent than expected throughout 2023, recording the industry’s best sales year since 2019.

Motor Intelligence reports that automakers sold 15.6 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2023, an increase of 12.3% from 2022. That compares to more than 17 million vehicles sold in 2019 before that the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the global automotive market.

December sales, reported this week, were surprisingly strong as automakers increased spending on incentives to move product.

Auto sales at the end of the year were up 13% compared to December 2022, more than double some analysts’ forecasts.

Automotive analysts and forecasters expect sales this year to be between approximately 15.6 million and 16.1 million vehicles. GM said Wednesday that it expects the industry to reach 16 million units sold in 2024.

Here are the 10 best-selling vehicles in the US by units sold for 2023, according to Motor Intelligence.