The world’s best-selling cars
The list of the world’s best-selling cars looks quite different to the UK’s top 10-selling models
There’s a particular theme with the UK’s top-10 best-selling cars. In 2025, most of them were SUVs, either in the compact or mid-size bits of the market. The Ford Puma topped the charts, followed by the Kia Sportage, although a couple of hatchbacks did sneak in – the Vauxhall Corsa and the VW Golf.
But how does this compare to the global picture? A few of the UK’s top sellers do make an appearance in the world’s best-selling cars top 10, but for the most part, it’s a very different list. Granted, in pole position is… a mid-size SUV, but it’s one that isn’t exactly a smash hit in the UK. The Toyota RAV4 is the best selling car in the world based on 2025 data, with the Tesla Model Y snapping at its heels in second place.
In third place is the Toyota Corolla, and as refreshing as it might be to see a hatchback proving so popular these days, the car used to be more popular still in the past, topping the list. Just behind it is something that isn’t a car at all – the Ford F-Series pickup, fuelled by considerable demand in the United States of America.
In the lower half of the list, things look a little more familiar, with a few of the UK’s top sellers making an appearance.
The top 10 best-selling cars in the world
Here are the best-selling cars in the world complete with sales figures for 2025...
1. Toyota RAV4: 1.01 million sales
While mid-size SUVs in the UK are a dominant force, the Toyota RAV4 is more of a bit part player. But from a global perspective, no car sold more in 2025. It just pipped over the one million mark, and was the only car to achieve the feat that year. Potentially bolstering the car’s popularity is the arrival of an overhauled version which is much the same underneath, but has changed enough for Toyota to consider it an all-new model.
2. Tesla Model Y: 990,000 sales
Running the Toyota RAV4 fairly close but not quite breaking past the one million mark was the Tesla Model Y. The owner of Tesla might be as divisive a figure as ever, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped many from buying the company’s compact electric SUV, nor does the fact it’s getting on a bit. It’s had a substantial update, though, so we wouldn’t bet against it staying high up the sales charts for a while yet.
3. Toyota Corolla: 980,000 sales
A former global best-seller had to settle for third place in 2025, but for a hatchback like the Toyota Corolla to rack up nearly a million sales in these SUV-obsessed times is quite a feat. It helps that the Corolla name is so well-established at this point, with the model now in its 12th generation. For what it’s worth, though, the Corolla is a car we rate very highly.
4. Ford F-Series: 970,000 sales
The world’s fourth most popular car is not a car at all. It’s the Ford F-150 pick-up truck, and if you thought the Corolla had some impressive heritage behind it, you should bear in mind that this vehicle is now in its fourteenth generation and has existed in one form or another since 1948.
It’s not sold officially in the UK, with Ford’s sole pick-up offering here being the Ranger, which is smaller and a little more practical for our compact roads than a truck that’s nearly 6.5 metres long in some forms.
5. Honda CR-V: 720,000 sales
Here’s a car we’ll be more familiar with as UK buyers. But not that au fait, because, much like the Toyota RAV4 in first place, the CR-V doesn’t take a particularly large slice of the mid-size SUV here. It’s not helped by high pricing and the abundance of better-rounded alternatives that Honda has to worry about. Take a look at worldwide sales, and things look much more impressive for the CR-V, although it’s a long way behind the fourth-placed Ford F-Series.
6. Chevrolet Silverado: 670,000 sales
Another one that’ll have UK readers scratching their heads and thinking, “a what?” The Chevrolet Silverado isn’t a car – it’s another pick-up truck, and the arch-rival for the aforementioned Ford F-150. It does very well for itself indeed, as evidenced by a strong sixth place in the worldwide rankings, but it’s long lived in the shadow of the Ford.
7. Hyundai Tucson: 630,000 sales
Finally, a car which you’ll also find in the UK top 10. The Hyundai Tucson was our 10th most popular car in 2025, and at the same time was the seventh most popular worldwide. This comes as less of a surprise than some of the cars here, because the Tucson is one of the strongest mid-sized SUVs around in the view of our testers, and continual updates have helped keep it competitive in a cutthroat market.
8. Toyota Camry: 630,000 sales
Known to many Brits as that hire car you remember from a trip to Disney World, the Camry is a huge deal in the United States, providing half of the model’s sales in 2025 and giving Toyota its third car in the top 10 list of worldwide best sellers. It’s another name with a lot of history behind it, having been used as long ago as the late 1970s. The current ‘XV80’ version has been around since 2023.
9. Volkswagen Tiguan: 550,000 sales
Neatly, the Volkswagen Tiguan was placed ninth in terms of sales in both the UK and worldwide charts in 2025. It has a lot going for it, with a badge that brings with it a decent amount of cache, decent practicality and a strong range of powertrains that includes a large-battery plug-in hybrid. It’s a reasonably fresh car, with the current version arriving in 2024, so we’re expecting it to remain a sales contender for a while.
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10. Kia Sportage: 550,000 sales
Marginally behind the Tiguan is another car from the UK top 10, although from a global perspective it’s some way down from the second place it manages in the local UK chart, and a good few places behind the Hyundai Tucson with which it shares so much. Strong sales in North America help the Kia Sportage’s cause, where it’s sold exclusively in a long-wheelbase format we don’t get in the UK.
Top-10 best-selling cars in the world 2025:
- Toyota RAV4
- Tesla Model Y
- Toyota Corolla
- Ford F-Series
- Honda CR-V
- Chevrolet Silverado
- Hyundai Tucson
- Toyota Camry
- Volkswagen Tiguan
- Kia Sportage
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