Toyota RAV4 Sales

Between 1994 and the end of February this year, Toyota RAV4 sales reached 10,080,834 sales around the world.

“The Chief Engineer for the RAV4 project, Masakatsu Nonaka, found that it wasn’t easy to convince other Toyota departments that a new mass-production car should be created to be sold in a market segment that didn’t yet exist.

The term ‘Sports Utility Vehicle’ was still unknown and there were many within Toyota who simply couldn’t grasp the concept of such a compact 4×4. In fact, internal resistance even stalled the project at one point, but support from an unexpected quarter gave it new life”, said Toyota.

Best selling SUV globally

Now it’s fifth-generation, the Toyota RAV4 sales passed the Corolla and Camry in the United States in 2017. In 2019, the RAV4 was the best-selling SUV, with over 535,000 sales in the U.S. alone. In Europe, the SUV also set a record for 2019, selling over 130,000 RAV4’s.

A first generation Toyota RAV4
A first-generation Toyota RAV4. Photo: Toyota Europe.

The Corolla is still globally the best selling vehicle, with other 40 million sales, so the RAV4 has a way to go yet to beat the Corolla, but it’s certainly on the path to get there. Toyota Corolla’s have been around a lot longer (since 1966) than the RAV4. On the current projected sales path, the RAV4 could be the best selling vehicle ever by around 2035.

Just one reason the RAV4 might be so popular is that for an AWD SUV, it’s one of the most fuel-efficient. It tops our list of 12 of the Most Fuel-Efficient AWD SUVs 2020 and the RAV4 Hybrid comes second in the hybrid section.

Future RAV4’s

New for 2020, Toyota brings out an off-road inspired version of the AWD SUV, the RAV4 TRD Off-Road.

Coming soon is the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime, expected in the summer of 2020. A plug-in hybrid RAV4 that is expected to drive 39 miles on battery-only power.

off road suv 4x4
Toyota RAV4 TRD Off-Road. Photo: Toyota

Contact your local Toyota dealer if you’d like to find out more about the RAV4.