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The Best-Selling Car in America, Every Year Since 1978

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Best-Selling Car in America 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.

YearsCar ModelBest-Selling Span (U.S.)
1978–1981Oldsmobile Cutlass4 years
1982Ford Escort1 year
1983Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme1 year
1984–1985Chevrolet Cavalier2 years
1986Chevrolet Celebrity1 year
1987–1988Ford Escort2 years
1989–1991Honda Accord3 years
1992–1996Ford Taurus5 years
1997–2000Toyota Camry4 years
2001Honda Accord1 year
2002–2020Toyota Camry19 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 ModelUnits 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.

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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.

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Bubble chart of the most valuable brands by country.

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.

BrandCountryValue (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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