Popularity isn’t the only measure of an SUV, car or truck.
But looking at the most-popular SUVs and other vehicles isn’t a bad place to start shopping. After all, there probably are reasons the most-popular are, well, the most popular.
Everyone talks about trucks – and for good reason – with Ford F-Series (909,330), Chevrolet Silverado (585,582) and Ram Pickup (536,980) the top three selling vehicles in America.
But it may be a surprise that Americans buy nearly three times as many SUV/crossovers as pickup trucks.
Last year, four of the 10 most-popular – i.e., best-selling – vehicles were sport utility/crossovers, the Toyota RAV4 (427,168 in sales), the Nissan Rogue/Rogue Sport (412,110), Honda CR-V (379,021) and the Chevrolet Equinox (332,621), according to data from GoodCarBadCar website. But carmakers offered about 120 different models of SUV/crossovers compared to 13 truck models.
Even cars outsell trucks with more than 135 models generating nearly double the number of trucks, despite only three cars – the Toyota Camry (343,439), Honda Civic (325,760) and Toyota Corolla (303,732) – ranking in the top 10 of all vehicles sold last year.
The Dodge Grand Caravan was the best-selling minivan in 2018, but ranked just 29th among all vehicles.
SUV/crossovers
Here are the most-popular SUV/crossovers for the Q1 of 2019 and all of 2018, including their total sales:
Most-popular SUVs (2019)
- Nissan Rogue – 98,814
- Chevrolet Equinox – 88,500
- Honda CR-V – 87,280
- Toyota RAV4 – 83,820
- Ford Explorer – 61,922
- Ford Escape – 60,702
- Jeep Grand Cherokee – 57,749
- Toyota Highlander – 52,621
- Jeep Wrangler – 49,988
- Jeep Cherokee – 49,420
Most-popular SUVs (2018)
- Toyota RAV4 – 427,168
- Nissan Rogue – 412,110
- Honda CR-V – 379,021
- Chevrolet Equinox – 332,621
- Ford Escape – 272,228
- Ford Explorer – 261,571
- Toyota Highlander – 244,511
- Jeep Wrangler – 240,032
- Jeep Cherokee – 239,437
- Jeep Grand Cherokee – 224,908
Cars
Here are the most-popular cars for the Q1 of 2019 and all of 2018, including their total sales:
Most-popular cars (2019)
- Toyota Camry – 81,684
- Toyota Corolla – 78,608
- Honda Civic – 78,185
- Honda Accord – 64,411
- Nissan Sentra – 56,793
- Nissan Altima – 51,480
- Ford Fusion – 41,683
- Hyundai Elantra – 36,112
- Chevrolet Malibu – 34,197
- Kia Soul – 25,553
Most-popular cars (2018)
- Toyota Camry – 343,439
- Honda Civic – 325,760
- Toyota Corolla – 303,732
- Honda Accord – 291,071
- Nissan Sentra – 213,046
- Nissan Altima – 209,146
- Hyundai Elantra – 200,415
- Ford Fusion – 173,600
- Chevrolet Malibu – 144,542
- Chevrolet Cruze – 142,618
Trucks
Here are the most-popular pickup trucks for the Q1 of 2019 and all of 2018, including their total sales:
Most-popular trucks (2019)
- Ford F-Series – 214,611
- Ram Pickup – 120,026
- Chevrolet Silverado – 114,313
- Toyota Tacoma – 58,183
- GMC Sierra – 40,547
- Chevrolet Colorado – 33,494
- Toyota Tundra – 25,100
- Nissan Frontier – 20,221
- Nissan Titan – 9,683
- Ford Ranger – 9,421
Most-popular trucks (2018)
- Ford F-Series – 909,330
- Chevrolet Silverado – 585,582
- Ram Pickup – 536,980
- Toyota Tacoma – 245,659
- GMC Sierra – 219,554
- Chevrolet Colorado – 134,842
- Toyota Tundra – 118,258
- Nissan Frontier – 79,646
- Nissan Titan – 50,459
- GMC Canyon – 33,493
Minivans
Here are the most-popular minivans for the Q1 of 2019 and all of 2018, including their total sales:
Most-popular minivans (2019)
- Dodge Grand Caravan – 35,440
- Chrysler Pacifica – 23,274
- Honda Odyssey – 21,297
- Toyota Sienna – 18,616
- Kia Sedona – 3,859
Most-popular minivans (2018)
- Dodge Grand Caravan – 151,927
- Chrysler Pacifica – 118,322
- Honda Odyssey – 106,327
- Toyota Sienna – 87,672
- Kia Sedona – 17,928
A “most-popular” rating indicates that a lot of other shoppers found good reasons to buy the vehicles, so it’s not unreasonable to use this standard to inform your purchase.
It probably is fair to assume that many buyers have done some homework for their vehicle purchases. Just don’t entirely base your decision on others’ choices.
In this case, we’ve already done some of the work for you.