Last year, the Toyota RAV4 set records as both the best-selling SUV and the single best-selling model on the US market. This year, however, the RAV4 is a bit off track compared to its banner 2024. And the competition is getting close. 

The best-selling SUV in America, the Toyota RAV4, is down a bit this year compared to last year

It’s a big year for Toyota’s biggest US-market seller. For starters, the Japanese automaker announced that the updated, next-generation RAV4 will go hybrid-only for 2026, dropping its ICE offerings for a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV).

But even with an updated RAV4 on the way, the country’s best-selling SUV isn’t selling quite as well as it did last year. As of the start of Q3 2025, Toyota sold 239,451 RAV4s in the US. That’s about four percent off the compact SUV’s performance in the first half of 2024.

By the end of 2024, Toyota had sold an astonishing 475,193 units to American buyers. That put the brand’s best-seller ahead of not just comparable small SUVs, but also the Ford F-150. The F-150, mind you, which was the best-selling vehicle in America for over 40 years. No easy feat. 

It’s also unclear how the market will receive the new hybrid model. Of the 239,451 units Toyota sold in the first half of 2025, 95,813 were the RAV4 Hybrid. In an even smaller sub-segment, only 11,357 units were the PHEV model. But, starting next year, the non-hybrid model simply isn’t an option.  

The RAV4’s chief competition is closing in

Granted, four percent doesn’t exactly constitute plummeting sales. But, in addition to the RAV4’s slight sales slump year-over-year, its closest competitor is closing the gap.

It’s the Honda CR-V, and its performance in the first half of 2025 has been twice as good as the RAV4’s sales drop. While the RAV4’s sales dropped by four percent, the CR-V enjoyed an eight percent increase in the first half of the year. Honda sold around 212,561 CR-Vs, within just 26,890 units of the rival Toyota.