When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The Best-Selling Car in America, Every Year Since 1978
The Best-Selling Car in America, Every Year Since 1978
Cars have been a staple of the U.S. economy almost since their inception. But as vehicle designs have evolved over time, and consumer tastes alongside them, the best-selling car in America has changed as well.
Finding the right mix of affordability, style, and features has meant that different manufacturers have been in the market lead during different decades.
This infographic from Alan’s Factory Outlet shows the most-purchased cars in the U.S. since 1978, not including trucks and SUVs.
What Is The Best-Selling Car in America By Year?
From 1978 to 2020, over 348 million cars were sold in the U.S., or an average of 8.1 million cars per year. Car sales were especially strong during times of high oil prices, such as following the 1979 oil crisis, as consumers avoided less fuel-efficient trucks and SUVs.
And throughout most of the 20th century, car sales in the U.S. were led by American manufacturers.
From 1978 to 1988, two of the “Big Three” Detroit-based auto manufacturers had the best-selling cars in the country. GM had two models of the Oldsmobile Cutlass and two different Chevrolets in the top spot, while Ford was able to compete with the compact Ford Escort.
But since the late 1980s, Japanese manufacturers started to take over in affordability, reliability, and overall sales.
Years Car Model Best-Selling Span (U.S.) 1978–1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4 years 1982 Ford Escort 1 year 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 1 year 1984–1985 Chevrolet Cavalier 2 years 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity 1 year 1987–1988 Ford Escort 2 years 1989–1991 Honda Accord 3 years 1992–1996 Ford Taurus 5 years 1997–2000 Toyota Camry 4 years 2001 Honda Accord 1 year 2002–2020 Toyota Camry 19 yearsAfter Honda and Ford fought closely for the most popular cars with the Accord and the Taurus, Toyota grabbed the crown with the ultra-popular Toyota Camry.
Toyota, which was the world’s largest automaker by market cap for a majority of the last 30 years, also has the world’s best-selling car of all-time with another popular model, the Toyota Corolla.
The company’s cars have resonated with consumers due to reliability, safety, and efficiency in spite of being mass-produced and affordable. High ownership satisfaction and low incidence rates also led Camrys to have high resale value.
Runner Ups and Best-Selling Trucks and SUVs
Just behind Toyota for many years was another Japanese automaker, Honda. The company’s Accord and Civic models consistently ranked just behind the Toyota Camry in U.S. sales throughout most of the 2000s.
Despite most of the world preferring cars for vehicle purchases, the U.S. has become light truck and SUV dominant since the 2000s.
Car Model Units Sold (U.S. 2020)
Ford F-Series 787,422
Chevrolet Silverado 594,094
Ram pickup 563,676
Toyota RAV4 430,387
Honda CR-V 333,502
Toyota Camry 294,348
Chevrolet Equinox 270,994
Honda Civic 270,994
GMC Sierra 253,016
Toyota Tacoma 238,806
The proliferation of light trucks also meant that Toyota, one of the world’s leading hybrid sellers, saw the crossover/SUV Toyota RAV4 Hybrid beat the well-known Prius consistently in U.S. sales.
Meanwhile, electric car sales in the U.S. are still far behind, climbing up to 1.8% of sales in 2020 from 1.4% the year before. Compared to countries like Norway where electric cars make up the majority of vehicle sales, the U.S. will likely be dominated by light-trucks for years to come.
Sad how the US automakers never evolved to being the best from their high point of the 50s-60s.
Recently seeing a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air on the street - just mesmerizing car and so American. They sold out completely. I visited my local Ford dealer to look at new Mustang Mach 1 - EVERY single body panel is misaligned with uneven gaps - just unacceptable for a $60k car. Zero attention to detail or even pride.
Surprised to find out that a coupe Oldsmobile was the best selling car, I thought coupes were always niche.
Not in the mid-late 1970s. The Olds Cutlass was an American cult back then. And coupes with the small peep-hole opera windows in the C-pillars were especially popular.
Sad how the US automakers never evolved to being the best from their high point of the 50s-60s.
Recently seeing a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air on the street - just mesmerizing car and so American. They sold out completely. I visited my local Ford dealer to look at new Mustang Mach 1 - EVERY single body panel is misaligned with uneven gaps - just unacceptable for a $60k car. Zero attention to detail or even pride.
You (might be?) forgetting three things, though. First, cars, back then, did not have to conform to any significant safety/emission/CAFE rules.....automakers were free to design and market anything they thought would sell. Second, American manufacturers also produced some flops back then, too....such as the Edsel, Corvair, and the disastrous downsized 1962 full-sized Plymouth and Dodges. Third, you complain about the panel-gaps on new Mustangs. You should have seen the way some cars came off the assembly lines in 1957, the year you seem so mesmorized with. Particularly at Chrysler, with the new "Forward Look" models, they were so haphazardly built that hoods and trunks wouldn't even close properly. And on some of the Fords of the late '50s, the frames were so flexible that fully-locked doors would sometimes unlatch and fly open on their hinges from cornering with body-flex.....in an age before even seat belts were standard.
Modern vehicles may not have the panache or nostalgia of those American-Graffiti-machines, but believe me...as someone who grew up in those days, you are dealing with a FAR better product today.
Sad how the US automakers never evolved to being the best from their high point of the 50s-60s.
Recently seeing a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air on the street - just mesmerizing car and so American. They sold out completely. I visited my local Ford dealer to look at new Mustang Mach 1 - EVERY single body panel is misaligned with uneven gaps - just unacceptable for a $60k car. Zero attention to detail or even pride.
Nice pictures. It's easy to see why the '57 is a classic. I learned to drive in a '57 Bel Air. Good times.
You (might be?) forgetting three things, though. First, cars, back then, did not have to conform to any significant safety/emission/CAFE rules.....automakers were free to design and market anything they thought would sell. Second, American manufacturers also produced some flops back then, too....such as the Edsel, Corvair, and the disastrous downsized 1962 full-sized Plymouth and Dodges. Third, you complain about the panel-gaps on new Mustangs. You should have seen the way some cars came off the assembly lines in 1957, the year you seem so mesmorized with. Particularly at Chrysler, with the new "Forward Look" models, they were so haphazardly built that hoods and trunks wouldn't even close properly. And on some of the Fords of the late '50s, the frames were so flexible that fully-locked doors would sometimes unlatch and fly open on their hinges from cornering with body-flex.....in an age before even seat belts were standard.
Modern vehicles may not have the panache or nostalgia of those American-Graffiti-machines, but believe me...as someone who grew up in those days, you are dealing with a FAR better product today.
I’m not comparing build quality of today’s cars to one from 60yrs ago lol
The tech, features and design of those cars were on another level compared to their competitors. Current American cars are not only behind in those aspects but also are much worse in build quality.
Mustang is a sacred nameplate and for them to be put together in such a despicable manner is embarrassing. A blind person should be able to tell that those uneven panel gaps should be fixed prior to customer delivery. Also the internal components are assemble just as poorly.
You (might be?) forgetting three things, though. First, cars, back then, did not have to conform to any significant safety/emission/CAFE rules.....automakers were free to design and market anything they thought would sell. Second, American manufacturers also produced some flops back then, too....such as the Edsel, Corvair, and the disastrous downsized 1962 full-sized Plymouth and Dodges. Third, you complain about the panel-gaps on new Mustangs. You should have seen the way some cars came off the assembly lines in 1957, the year you seem so mesmorized with. Particularly at Chrysler, with the new "Forward Look" models, they were so haphazardly built that hoods and trunks wouldn't even close properly. And on some of the Fords of the late '50s, the frames were so flexible that fully-locked doors would sometimes unlatch and fly open on their hinges from cornering with body-flex.....in an age before even seat belts were standard.
Modern vehicles may not have the panache or nostalgia of those American-Graffiti-machines, but believe me...as someone who grew up in those days, you are dealing with a FAR better product today.
That's not the point. Back in the 50ies and 60ies the rest of the world was recovering from WW2, and USA had a giant head start. American cars at that time were clearly far better anything that Japan, Germany or USSR were building, but they dropped the ball and by the 90ies they were building Soviet tier junk, while Japan and Germany upped their game and surpassed the American manufacturers in every imaginable way. When I came to the US from Russia in 1993, even as a teenager I couldn't help by notice how terrible American cars of that era were. Ugly, terribly built inside and out, antiquated drivetrains, they felt like they were built out of compressed rust. Just look at the car RNM has posted - how the hell did USA get reduced from that to the K-car, lol.
Of course today they have improved the quality, but they lost their original character, your average American family car does not look or feel any different from a Japanese soapbox. Perhaps the pickup trucks have taken over as American icons, but they are absolutely cringe to anyone whos at least somewhat rational.
That's not the point. Back in the 50ies and 60ies the rest of the world was recovering from WW2, and USA had a giant head start. American cars at that time were clearly far better anything that Japan, Germany or USSR were building,
At that time, even still recovering from WWII, the Germans clearly had the best quality-control, particularly wth Mercedes-Benz.
Of course today they have improved the quality, but they lost their original character, your average American family car does not look or feel any different from a Japanese soapbox.
There are few American family "cars" left...they have mostly become crossovers.
Originally Posted by RNM GS3
I’m not comparing build quality of today’s cars to one from 60yrs ago lol
Relax.....I wasn't implying that. My point was that what you and I would probably consider good quality control among American-brand vehicles is a relatively recent phenomenon, although, in the 1960s, GM was clearly better than Ford, Chrysler, or AMC in that regard.
Mustang is a sacred nameplate and for them to be put together in such a despicable manner is embarrassing. A blind person should be able to tell that those uneven panel gaps should be fixed prior to customer delivery. Also the internal components are assemble just as poorly.
Mustangs sell on their image more than anything else. The original ones from 1964 were sloppily-assembled, and, to some extent, still are today, although today they benefit from far better engineering.
I dunno. In the 70s and 80s, tons of cars had a sedan and a coupe version.
Coupes often outsold sedans back then....particularly with those small peep-hole opera-windows that were stylish, but made for lousy rear-quarter vision. Volvo, in their ads back then (that company was always safety-oriened) used to target those opera-windows and specifically state they they did NOT build vehicles with them....only large, transparent glass windows that were easy to see out of. This was before the days of minivans, but lots of people who needed more room than a coupe offered either bought traditional station-wagons (which were still in production) or large full-size, passenger-carrying vans like the Ford Econoline and Dodge Sportsman.
And it was way easier to get into the back seat of a coupe back then.
Yes and no. Yes, cars (and back seats) were generally larger back then, but helpful entry/exit aids like auto-fold front setbacks and the small half-rear doors on coupes like the Saturn SC and Mazda RX-8 had not ben invented yet.
A really tight situation back then was in the back seat of the GM Vega-based Monza/Skyhawk.Starfire/Sunbird series. With one of the first carpools I was in, one of the guys had a 4-on-the-floor 1975 Oldsmobile Starfire coupe...orange with a tan interior (talk about an ugly color-combination LOL). I was a big guy....6' 2" and on the north side of 250. I'd sometimes have to crawl in and out of that back seat and actually sit with my legs straddled sideways across the seat and my head ducked from the low-roof. If I remember correctly, I just had to trust his driving.....couldn't even wear a belt in that position.
Coupes often outsold sedans back then....particularly with those small peep-hole opera-windows that were stylish, but made for lousy rear-quarter vision. Volvo, in their ads back then (that company was always safety-oriened) used to target those opera-windows and specifically state they they did NOT build vehicles with them....only large, transparent glass windows that were easy to see out of. This was before the days of minivans, but lots of people who needed more room than a coupe offered either bought traditional station-wagons (which were still in production) or large full-size, passenger-carrying vans like the Ford Econoline and Dodge Sportsman.
Man, the situation today with the windows in most cars is ridiculous. Giant pillars, tall dash and belt lines - can't see jack out of front or back. I miss cars with proper greenhouses.
Man, the situation today with the windows in most cars is ridiculous. Giant pillars, tall dash and belt lines - can't see jack out of front or back. I miss cars with proper greenhouses.
Yes, I like to be able to see out, too, but, unlike back in the 70s when those opera-window coupes had lousy vision, today's vehicles have cameras and electronic devices all around, which allow you to see just about anything....or warn you about anything if you son't actually see it. I love the 360-camera in my Encore GX....it is very handy, specially for parking, and GM uses some of the best camera-sensors in the industry for sharpness and clarity.
07-17-21, 07:41 PM
Best selling cars 1978-2020
