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How Many Cars Does Toyota Sell In A Year (2025 Update)?
Pete Ortiz
Last updated:
2020 and 2021 were extraordinary years for car sales. The Covid pandemic saw virtually every country lockdown for months on end and most countries forced non-essential retail businesses, including car showrooms, to close their doors. All car manufacturers were impacted by these changes, including the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer, Toyota. As well as their own brands, Toyota also makes Lexus, and, before 2020, sold over 10 million cars a year, on average.
Read on for more precise details of their annual sales, as well as details of their most popular vehicles and which countries and markets are their biggest.
About Toyota
Toyota’s automotive history actually starts in the weaving industry. Founder Sakichi Toyoda invented the first automatic look, setting up the Toyoda Spinning and Weaving Company in 1918. In 1929, Sakichi gave £100,000 he received from the British weaving company, Platt Brothers, to his son Kiichiro.
Kiichiro started developing automotive technology and, in 1936, the first Toyoda model, the AA. In 1937, the Toyota Motor Company was founded. Kiichiro used the name Toyota, rather than Toyoda, because it took eight brush strokes to write the name instead of ten. In 1959, the company started manufacturing its vehicles outside Japan for the first time, in Brazil.
Today, Toyota manufactures and sells Toyota and Lexus, and has a stake in Subaru and Suzuki. Until 2018, it was the world’s largest car manufacturer but was overtaken by Volkswagen Group to be the second-largest manufacturer by units sold. But, they triumphantly retook the top spot once again in 2020.
Image Credit: Dusty Barnes, Unsplash
Recent Sales
2020 and 2021 have seen the world gripped by Covid. It has negatively impacted salaries and earnings while also causing disruptions in supply chains and logistics. Car showrooms have been shut down and the shipping of goods between countries has been prohibited. As a result, sales figures have dropped.
In 2019, more than 90 million cars were sold globally. In 2020, only 78 million were sold, representing a contraction of 14% year on year. The 77 million units sold included 54 million passenger cars and 24 million commercial vehicles. 2021 is expected to see sales of 66 million passenger cars: a sizeable increase from 2020 but still some way short of the 75 million or more that were sold before the pandemic.
How Many Cars Did Toyota Sell In 2020?
Toyota sold 9.53 million vehicles in 2020, a drop of 11% compared to 2019 when they sold 10.7 million vehicles. The 11% contraction compares favorably to the global automotive industry figures. In 2018, Toyota sold 10.6 million vehicles and in 2017 they sold 10.4 million.
Credit: ArtisticOperations, Pixabay
Toyota’s Best-Selling Models
Although Toyota is no longer the world’s biggest car manufacturer, it still has some very popular models. In fact, in 2020, three of the top five best selling car models were Toyotas:
1. Toyota Corolla
Image Credit: Pixabay
Sales: 1,150,000
Although sales of the Japanese saloon fell by 8% compared to 2019, the Toyota Corolla was the best-selling car in the world in 202, selling more than 1.1 million units. It remains popular in the US, even though the country’s love affair with the saloon is beginning to fade.
2. Toyota RAV4
Image Credit: Pixabay
Sales: 1,070,000
The only other model of vehicle to sell over a million units for the 12 months was another Toyota: this time, the Toyota RAV4. The RAV4 actually saw a 10% increase in sales from the previous year and sold 1.07 million. Sales may have been boosted by the option of a plug-in hybrid model added to the range, with low-emissions and no-emissions cars gaining in popularity.
3. Toyota Camry
Image Credit: Pixabay
Sales: 635,000
The Toyota Camry was the fifth best-selling car overall in 2020, and Toyota’s third most popular, selling 635,000 units. It has plenty of interior space and is considered a very reliable car, making it a popular choice in the US as well as overseas markets.
Asia is considered Toyota’s biggest market for car sales, selling 2.8 million units, compared to the 2.4 million sold in North America. The Japanese manufacturer sells approximately 1.5 million cars in its native Japan and 1 million in Europe. China was the only country where Toyota sales increased in 2020, with the giant selling 1.8 million cars in 2020 compared to 1.6 million in 2019.
In 2020, Toyota once again took the crown as the world’s biggest car manufacturer and sold 9.53 million vehicles globally, including cars and retail vehicles. Like the rest of the automotive industry, they did see a significant drop in sales during the year, however, having previously been selling more than 10.5 million units per year.
Their biggest market is the USA, and their biggest seller is the Toyota Corolla, which is also the world’s best-selling car. The increasing popularity of electric and hybrid models may see this change today and beyond, especially with countries like the UK declaring that no new cars sold after 2030 will be petrol-powered.
Featured Image Credit: Pixabay
Contents
Writer
Pete Ortiz
Pete has been working in the trades since high school, where he first developed a passion for woodworking. Over the years, he has developed a keen interest in a wide variety of DIY projects around the home. Fascinated by all sort of tools, Pete loves reading and writing about all the latest gadgets and accessories that hit the market. His other interests include astronomy, hiking, and fishing.
As the founder of House Grail, Pete's primary goal is to help consumers make educated decisions about DIY projects at home, in the garage, and in the garden.
