Brands
The Best-Selling Car in America, Every Year Since 1978
The Best-Selling Car in America, Every Year Since 1978
Cars have been a staple of the U.S. economy almost since their inception. But as vehicle designs have evolved over time, and consumer tastes alongside them, the best-selling car in America has changed as well.
Finding the right mix of affordability, style, and features has meant that different manufacturers have been in the market lead during different decades.
This infographic from Alan’s Factory Outlet shows the most-purchased cars in the U.S. since 1978, not including trucks and SUVs.
What Is The Best-Selling Car in America By Year?
From 1978 to 2020, over 348 million cars were sold in the U.S., or an average of 8.1 million cars per year. Car sales were especially strong during times of high oil prices, such as following the 1979 oil crisis, as consumers avoided less fuel-efficient trucks and SUVs.
And throughout most of the 20th century, car sales in the U.S. were led by American manufacturers.
From 1978 to 1988, two of the “Big Three” Detroit-based auto manufacturers had the best-selling cars in the country. GM had two models of the Oldsmobile Cutlass and two different Chevrolets in the top spot, while Ford was able to compete with the compact Ford Escort.
But since the late 1980s, Japanese manufacturers started to take over in affordability, reliability, and overall sales.
Years | Car Model | Best-Selling Span (U.S.) |
---|---|---|
1978–1981 | Oldsmobile Cutlass | 4 years |
1982 | Ford Escort | 1 year |
1983 | Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme | 1 year |
1984–1985 | Chevrolet Cavalier | 2 years |
1986 | Chevrolet Celebrity | 1 year |
1987–1988 | Ford Escort | 2 years |
1989–1991 | Honda Accord | 3 years |
1992–1996 | Ford Taurus | 5 years |
1997–2000 | Toyota Camry | 4 years |
2001 | Honda Accord | 1 year |
2002–2020 | Toyota Camry | 19 years |
After Honda and Ford fought closely for the most popular cars with the Accord and the Taurus, Toyota grabbed the crown with the ultra-popular Toyota Camry.
Toyota, which was the world’s largest automaker by market cap for a majority of the last 30 years, also has the world’s best-selling car of all-time with another popular model, the Toyota Corolla.
The company’s cars have resonated with consumers due to reliability, safety, and efficiency in spite of being mass-produced and affordable. High ownership satisfaction and low incidence rates also led Camrys to have high resale value.
Runner Ups and Best-Selling Trucks and SUVs
Just behind Toyota for many years was another Japanese automaker, Honda. The company’s Accord and Civic models consistently ranked just behind the Toyota Camry in U.S. sales throughout most of the 2000s.
Despite most of the world preferring cars for vehicle purchases, the U.S. has become light truck and SUV dominant since the 2000s.
Car Model | Units Sold (U.S. 2020) |
---|---|
Ford F-Series | 787,422 |
Chevrolet Silverado | 594,094 |
Ram pickup | 563,676 |
Toyota RAV4 | 430,387 |
Honda CR-V | 333,502 |
Toyota Camry | 294,348 |
Chevrolet Equinox | 270,994 |
Honda Civic | 270,994 |
GMC Sierra | 253,016 |
Toyota Tacoma | 238,806 |
The proliferation of light trucks also meant that Toyota, one of the world’s leading hybrid sellers, saw the crossover/SUV Toyota RAV4 Hybrid beat the well-known Prius consistently in U.S. sales.
Meanwhile, electric car sales in the U.S. are still far behind, climbing up to 1.8% of sales in 2020 from 1.4% the year before. Compared to countries like Norway where electric cars make up the majority of vehicle sales, the U.S. will likely be dominated by light-trucks for years to come.
Markets
Visualizing the Most Valuable Brands in 12 Countries
This graphic visualizes the most valuable brands by country in 12 major economies, from tech and energy giants to automakers and banks.
Visualizing the Most Valuable Brands by Country
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
At the start of 2024, Apple was found to be the world’s most valuable brand, with a value of $517 billion—a 73.6% increase over the previous year.
It wasn’t the only strong American brand. In fact, U.S. brands made up six of the top 10, and 51 of the top 100 most valuable brands.
But other countries have their own claims within the top 100 brand rankings. Here are the most valuable brands by country in 2024, looking at a dozen different countries from Brand Finance‘s annual rankings.
The Most Valuable Brands in China, India, the UK, and More
First, it’s important to note that this data is related to the value of a brand, specifically, as opposed to more general measures of value such as market cap.
Generally speaking, brand value is calculated by looking at the strength of the brand itself (through investments, equity, and performance), as well as its attributable revenues within a company. For a more detailed breakdown, visit the Brand Finance report directly.
Brand | Country | Value (US$) |
---|---|---|
Apple | 🇺🇸 United States | $517B |
Samsung | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $99B |
TikTok | 🇨🇳 China | $84B |
Deutsche Telekom | 🇩🇪 Germany | $73B |
Toyota | 🇯🇵 Japan | $53B |
Shell | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $50B |
Aramco | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | $42B |
Accenture | 🇮🇪 Ireland | $41B |
Louis Vuitton | 🇫🇷 France | $32B |
Tata Group | 🇮🇳 India | $29B |
Nestlé | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $21B |
TD | 🇨🇦 Canada | $19B |
China may have 20 brands in the top 100, but South Korea’s Samsung trumps it for second place outside of the U.S. with a value of $99 billion.
Overall, Asian brands have attained significant value in recent years. China’s TikTok (along with its domestic counterpart, Douyin) is well known all around the world and had a value of $84 billion, while Japan’s Toyota and Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Aramco had brand values of $53 billion and $42 billion respectively.
Europe’s most valuable brand is Germany’s Deutsche Telekom at $73 billion, while French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton had a value of $32 billion.
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