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The Best-Selling Vehicles in the World By Country

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The Best-Selling Vehicles in the World By Country

Each country has different preferences for goods, and vehicles are no different.

Consumers in a dense country might prefer smaller cars, while countries with wide expanses (and parking spots) open the way for larger trucks. Likewise, rugged terrain might call for vehicles that can adapt and scale quickly.

And it’s also a question of which manufacturer invested in the country. As the world’s largest automakers have raced to attract consumers in every corner of the globe, they built factories, renamed models, and even built specific cars to fit the tastes of individual countries.

This infographic from Budget Direct Car Insurance highlights the best-selling vehicles in the world, using 2019 year-end sales data.

What is the Most Popular Vehicle in Each Country?

Though the map might vary across the board, one thing is certain: Toyota’s dominance.

The Japanese automaker—which was also the most valuable automaker in the world for many years before being overtaken by Tesla—had the best-selling vehicle in 41 countries of the 104 countries tallied.

It also had the world’s best-selling vehicle in 2019, the Toyota Corolla, though the sedan only took the top spot itself in five countries.

CountryBest-Selling VehicleType
AlgeriaDacia SanderoSubcompact
American SamoaToyota TacomaTruck
AngolaToyota Land Cruiser J70SUV
ArgentinaToyota HiluxTruck
AustraliaToyota HiluxTruck
AustriaSkoda OctaviaSedan
AzerbaijanKhazar SD/LDSedan
BahrainToyota Land CruiserSUV
BelarusLada VestaSedan
BelgiumVW GolfHatchback
Bosnia and HerzegovinaSkoda OctaviaSedan
BotswanaToyota HiluxTruck
BrazilChevrolet OnixSubcompact
CanadaFord F-SeriesTruck
ChileMitsubishi L-200Truck
ChinaVW LavidaSedan
ColombiaRenault SanderoSubcompact
Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)Toyota HiluxTruck
CroatiaSkoda OctaviaSedan
CyprusToyota YarisSubcompact
Czech RepublicSkoda OctaviaSedan
DenmarkNissan QashqaiSUV
EcuadorChevrolet SparkSubcompact
EgyptChevrolet T-SeriesTruck
EstoniaToyota Rav4SUV
FijiToyota HiluxTruck
FinlandSkoda OctaviaSedan
FrancePeugeot 208 ISubcompact
GeorgiaRenault/Dacia DusterSUV
GermanyVW GolfHatchback
GreeceToyota YarisSubcompact
HungarySuzuki VitaraSUV
IcelandToyota Rav4SUV
IndiaMaruti AltoHatchback
IndonesiaToyota AvanzaVan
IranSaipa PrideSedan
IraqKia FrontierTruck
IrelandToyota CorollaSedan
IsraelToyota CorollaSedan
ItalyFiat PandaSubcompact
JapanHonda N-BOXSubcompact
JordanHyundai TucsonSUV
KazakhstanToyota CamrySedan
KenyaToyota HiluxTruck
KosovoDacia SanderoSubcompact
KuwaitToyota Land CruiserSUV
LatviaToyota CorollaSedan
LebanonToyota Land CruiserSUV
LesothoToyota HiluxTruck
LiechtensteinVW GolfHatchback
LithuaniaFiat 500Subcompact
LuxembourgVW GolfHatchback
MacedoniaKia SportageSUV
MalawiToyota HiluxTruck
MalaysiaPerodua MyviHatchback
MexicoNissan VersaSedan
MoldovaDacia LoganSedan
MonacoSmart FortwoSubcompact
MoroccoDacia DokkerVan
NamibiaToyota HiluxTruck
NetherlandsTesla Model 3Sedan
New ZealandFord RangerTruck
NorwayTesla Model 3Sedan
OmanToyota Land CruiserSUV
PakistanToyota CorollaSedan
PanamaToyota HiluxTruck
Papua New GuineaToyota Land Cruiser J70SUV
ParaguayChevrolet OnixSubcompact
PeruToyota HiluxTruck
PhilippinesToyota ViosSubcompact
PolandSkoda OctaviaSedan
PortugalRenault ClioHatchback
QatarToyota Land CruiserSUV
RomaniaDacia LoganSedan
RussiaLada GrantaSubcompact
SamoaToyota HiaceVan
Saudi ArabiaHyundai AccentSubcompact
SenegalMitsubishi L200Truck
SerbiaSkoda OctaviaSedan
SingaporeHonda Vezel/HR-VSUV
SlovakiaSkoda FabiaSubcompact
SloveniaRenault ClioHatchback
Solomon IslandsToyota HiluxTruck
South AfricaToyota HiluxTruck
South KoreaHyundai GrandeurSedan
SpainSEAT LeonHatchback
Sri LankaSuzuki AltoHatchback
Swaziland (Eswatini)Toyota HiluxTruck
SwedenVolvo S/V60Sedan/Wagon
SwitzerlandSkoda OctaviaSedan
SyriaHyundai TucsonSUV
TaiwanToyota CorollaSedan
ThailandToyota HiluxTruck
TongaToyota HiluxTruck
TunisiaRenault ClioHatchback
TurkeyFiat EgeaSedan
UkraineKia SportageSUV
United Arab EmiratesToyota Land CruiserSUV
United KingdomFord FiestaSubcompact
United StatesFord F-150Truck
UruguayRenault KwidHatchback
VenezuelaToyota FortunerSUV
VietnamToyota ViosSubcompact
YemenToyota Land CruiserSUV

As the best-seller in 16 countries, the Toyota Hilux truck (also known as the Toyota Pickup in North America) was the top vehicle in the most countries. It has a noticeably strong market share in the Southern Hemisphere, including in Argentina, South Africa, and Australia.

The other consistent factor was the strength of local manufacturers. Many countries with large automakers had local models as the best-selling vehicles, especially in Europe.

Country with Local Best-SellerVehicle
Czech RepublicŠkoda Octavia
FrancePeugeot 208 I
GermanyVW Golf
IndiaMaruti Alto
IranSAIPA Pride
ItalyFiat Panda
JapanHonda N-BOX
MalaysiaPerodua Myvi
RomaniaDacia Logan
RussiaLada Granta
South KoreaHyundai Grandeur
SpainSEAT León
SwedenVolvo S/V60
U.S.Ford F-150

Cars are the Best-Selling Vehicles in the World

So what do car consumers currently prefer? Currently, cars have a slight edge over trucks as the best-selling vehicles in the world.

Of the 104 countries with sales tallied for the study, smaller cars often classified as “passenger vehicles” (including sedans, hatchbacks, and subcompacts) made up the majority of best-sellers, with 57 of the best-selling vehicles by country.

Meanwhile, “light trucks” or “light commercial vehicles,” which include trucks, SUVs, and vans, were best-sellers in 47 countries.

Best-Selling Vehicles by Type

  • Hatchback: 12
  • Sedan: 25
  • Sedan/Wagon: 1
  • Subcompact: 19
  • SUV: 20
  • Truck: 24
  • Van: 3

But changing car consumption preferences are already making their mark. The electric vehicle (EV) Tesla Model 3 was already the best-selling vehicle in both the Netherlands and Norway, and other countries like China are increasing incentives for consumers to purchase EVs.

That’s not even factoring in the slowdown of travel during the COVID pandemic, more workers going remote, and the semiconductor strain on automakers. A truly post-COVID world will likely transform the map even further.

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History

Mapped: European Colonial Shipping Lanes (1700‒1850)

This map plots the colonial shipping lanes used by the British, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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European Colonial Shipping Lanes (1700‒1850)

Every year, thousands of ships ferry passengers and transport goods across the world’s oceans and seas.

200 years ago, the ships navigating these waters looked very different. Explorers and traders sailed from coast to coast to expand colonial empires, find personal riches, or both.

Before modern technology simplified bookkeeping, many ships kept detailed logbooks to navigate, tracking the winds, waves, and any remarkable weather. Recently, these handwritten logbooks were fully digitized into the CLIWOC database as part of a UN-funded project by the University of Madrid.

In this graphic, Adam Symington uses this database to visualize the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch shipping routes between 1700 and 1850.

Colonial Shipping Lanes

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch empires dominated global trade through their colonial shipping lanes.

All four nations sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with some frequency over that timeframe, but these fleets were also very active in the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well.

The table below reflects the record of days spent by digitized logbooks from each nation.

CountryN. AtlanticS. AtlanticIndian OceanPacific All Oceans
🇪🇸 Spain28,63511,8126201,70342,770
🇬🇧 U.K.40,87317,73223,1061,48183,192
🇳🇱 Netherlands51,97723,45731,7591,481108,674
🇫🇷 France3,9301862058965,217
Total125,41553,18755,6905,561239,853

Does this mean that the Netherlands had the widest colonial reach at the time? Not at all, as researchers noted that there were thousands of logbooks from each country that weren’t able to be digitized, and thousands more that were lost to time. The days simply reflect the amount of data that was available to examine from each country.

But they can still give us an accurate look at critical shipping routes between European countries, their trade partners, and their colonies and territories.

Let’s now take a closer look at the colonial powers and their preferred routes.

The British

The British shipping map shows a steady presence across the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. They utilized many of Europe’s ports for ease of trade, with strong pre-independence connections to the U.S., Canada, and India.

One of the most frequented shipping routes on the map seen is a triangular trade route that enabled the trans-Atlantic slave trade. This route facilitated the transportation of slaves from Africa to the Americas, raw materials such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton from the American colonies to Europe, and arms, textiles, and wine from Europe to the colonies.

The Spanish

During this period, Spanish maritime trade with its colonies was an essential economic component of the Kingdom of Spain (as with other colonial empires).

We can see the largest concentration of Spanish ships around Central and South America leading up to the Spanish American wars of independence, as those colonies were especially important suppliers of raw materials such as gold, silver, sugar, tobacco, and cotton. There are some lanes visible to Pacific colonies like the Philippines.

The French

Of the four empires, France’s maritime logbooks were the most sparse. The records that were digitized show frequent travel and trade across the North Atlantic Ocean to Canada and the Caribbean.

The French empire at the time included colonies in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and West Africa. Their trade routes were used to transport goods like sugar, coffee, rum, and spices, while also relying on the slave trade to maintain plantation economies. The French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was one of the world’s wealthiest colonies in the late 18th century.

The Dutch

Dutch shipping routes from the time had the most detail and breadth of any country, reflective of the Dutch East India Trading Company’s position as the world’s dominant company and trade force.

These include massive traffic to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Cape Colony (now South Africa), and the Guianas in South America.

Interestingly, researchers from Leiden University found that the Dutch empire was a “string of pearls” consisting mostly of strategic trading hubs stretched along the edges of the continents and focused on maritime power.

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