Not GM, Not Ford: This Is The World’s Largest Car Brand By Sales

Ford and GM are the biggest players in the American new-vehicle market. In 2025, both companies saw their U.S. sales rise by 6%, with the Ford F-Series being the most popular new vehicle and its arch-rival, the Chevrolet Silverado, taking second place. However, neither is the top dog globally; that title instead goes to Toyota, which sold 11.3 million cars globally in 2025. That represents a record figure for the Japanese carmaker, which it said was thanks to strong demand in key markets like Japan and the U.S. It’s the sixth consecutive year that the Japanese carmaker has topped the sales charts.

Unlike some of its competitors, Toyota isn’t relying on just one ultra-successful model, either. Edmunds data shows that the RAV4 was the third best-selling vehicle in America in 2025, with the Camry and Tacoma also ranking among the top 10 most popular models. Toyota’s 2025 sales report notes that its success in other key markets was driven by a wide variety of models. In India, the Urban Cruiser Hyryder and Innova Hycross proved especially popular, while in Japan, sales were buoyed by the launch of a wagon version of the long-running Toyota Crown.

It’s this broad stable of models and wide range of electrified and non-electrified powertrains that has helped Toyota maintain its global appeal. Some of its rivals have not been as successful, however. The second biggest-selling vehicle maker, Volkswagen Group, saw its global sales drop slightly to just under 9 million in 2025.

The global order has also been shaken up by the rapid rise of new competitors, most notably the Tesla-rivalling electric vehicle maker BYD. In less than a decade, BYD has gone from being a small, little-known domestic Chinese automaker to being one of the biggest-selling car brands on Earth. In 2025, it sold 4.6 million vehicles globally. It has overtaken the likes of Ford, which sold 4.395 million vehicles in the same year, but it has even bigger ambitions.

In June 2026, BYD announced it was aiming to become the world’s largest carmaker within the space of five years, outselling both Toyota and Volkswagen Group. In July, Executive Vice President Stella Li told the Financial Times that the company’s plan was feasible even if BYD didn’t gain access to the U.S. market, as it was focusing primarily on increasing sales within Europe. Among other things, Li said that rolling out the carmaker’s ultra-fast charging technology would be key to hitting its lofty goal.

While the company has achieved remarkable growth over the past few years, it still has a very long way to go before it gets close to rivalling Toyota. Despite company executives’ bullishness, it’s worth noting that BYD’s sales dropped in the first half of 2026 due to increased competition from other Chinese manufacturers and global rivals.