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Business and startupsEpisode 273Race 3D0:37

World's biggest carmakers by sales, 2016-2025

Vehicles sold a year, millions · SAIC includes its joint ventures · Honda, Nissan: April to March

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Guess the number: vehicles sold in 2025

10 M
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0:00 / 0:37

Source: Company annual reports and filings · Full-year company reports for 2016-2025

Part of Rise and fall in business

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The numbersFills in as the clip plays
  1. 1Toyota11.32 M
  2. 2Volkswagen8.98 M
  3. 3Hyundai-Kia7.27 M
  4. 4GM6.18 M
  5. 5Stellantis5.57 M
  6. 6BYD4.6 M

Narration

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Runs 0:37.

How to read this chart: Each column is one racer and its height is its value at that moment; the leader's lane is on the right. Every column prints its value and the badge shows the period. On the live chart, drag to turn it. More on race 3d charts.

The takeaway

Toyota's 11.3 million in 2025 is 2.3 million more than Volkswagen's 9.0 million.

The data

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2025
  1. Toyota: 11.32M
  2. Volkswagen: 8.98M
  3. Hyundai-Kia: 7.27M
  4. GM: 6.18M
  5. Stellantis: 5.57M
  6. BYD: 4.6M
  7. SAIC: 4.51M
  8. Ford: 4.4M
2025

2016

Source: Company annual reports and filings. Covering Full-year company reports for 2016-2025.

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The chart from the video, redrawn live from its data. Scrub to any moment, or play it again.

What the numbers show

In 2025, Toyota sold 11.3 million vehicles worldwide, counting its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands. Volkswagen Group delivered 9.0 million, and Hyundai and Kia together sold 7.3 million. General Motors, including its China joint ventures, sold 6.2 million.

Ten years earlier the order was different. In 2016 Volkswagen delivered 10.3 million vehicles, Toyota 10.2 million and General Motors 10.0 million, all within 3 percent of one another. Volkswagen kept the lead through 2019, when it delivered 11.0 million against Toyota's 10.7 million.

The pandemic reshuffled the order. In 2020 Toyota sold 9.5 million and Volkswagen 9.3 million, and Toyota has led every year since. General Motors fell from 10.0 million in 2016 to 6.2 million in 2025, and Ford fell from 6.7 million to 4.4 million over the same years.

Two newcomers reached the top eight. Stellantis was formed in January 2021 when Fiat Chrysler and PSA, the maker of Peugeot, merged, and it reported 6.0 million combined shipments that year. BYD sold 4.3 million in 2024 and 4.6 million in 2025.

SAIC, one of China's biggest carmaker groups until BYD passed it in 2024, is in the top eight every year. It sold 6.5 million in 2016, 5.5 million in 2021 and 4.5 million in 2025. Its sales include those of its joint ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors, so some of those cars are also counted in Volkswagen's and GM's numbers.

Set 2025 beside 2016 and only Toyota grew: from 10.2 million to 11.3 million vehicles, up 1.15 million. Every other member of the 2016 top eight sold fewer. General Motors lost 3.83 million, Nissan 2.49 million and Ford 2.25 million, while SAIC fell by 1.98 million, Honda by 1.64 million, Volkswagen by 1.32 million, and Hyundai and Kia together by 0.61 million.

Nissan sold 5.6 million vehicles in 2016 and 4.1 million in 2020, its last year in the top eight. Honda fell from 5.0 million in 2016 to 4.1 million in 2023, also its last year in the top eight. Hyundai and Kia moved up from fourth place in 2020 to third in 2021 and have stayed there.

These are company-reported totals, and the companies do not all count the same way. Toyota reports sales, Volkswagen deliveries, Ford wholesales, Hyundai and Kia wholesale sales, SAIC wholesale sales, and General Motors retail sales that include its China joint ventures. Stellantis reports combined shipments, which include joint ventures. Honda and Nissan report April-to-March years, shown here under the year they start.

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Transcript

  1. 11.3 million vehicles in 2025. Which company?

  2. Eight carmakers, counted from company reports. Volkswagen led at first, then Toyota took over. Newcomers Stellantis and BYD joined the top eight. In 2025, Toyota sold — 11.3 million. Of 2016’s eight biggest, only Toyota sold more in 2025. General Motors lost 3.8 million.

  3. Will a Chinese carmaker pass Toyota by 2030? Comment your answer. Then like, share and subscribe. More at numberreels.com.

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