The Best Selling Vehicles for 2021

In the USA the Ford F-Series continued to dominate the market with 726,004 units sold during 2021. This total includes the F-150, F-250, F-350, and F-450 models. Nearly 5 out of every 100 light vehicles sold in 2021 were a Ford F-Series.

In second and third place were the Ram and Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks, respectively. The Ram and Silverado combined market share was just 11.9%. The Ford F-Series was the best-selling vehicle in Canada also with 111,332 units.

South America love trucks as well. Brazil, the largest automotive market in Latin America, had the Fiat Strada lead with 109,107 sales in 2021, or 5.5% of the total market.

This was the best result ever for this small pickup since its launch in 1996. Following in sales are the Hyundai HB20 hatchback and the Fiat Argo coming in second and third place, respectively.

The Fiat Cronos sedan was the best-selling vehicle in Argentina. This small, locally built four-door inspires consumer confidence due to its price, appearance, and wide availability at dealers.

The Toyota Hilux has been the market leader in Argentina for the last three years, but it came in second in 2021. Another truck, the Volkswagen Amarok, took third place.

What about Europe? It's interesting that the VW Golf was the most popular new car in Germany, but as JATO Dynamics noted, it has lost a lot of its share over the past 3 years.

The Golf's domestic registrations now count for only 3.5% of the total market, which is the lowest result since 1980.

The Golf's biggest challengers in Germany came from other VW products like the T-Roc and Tiguan.

In France, Europe's second-largest automotive market, the Peugeot 208 beat the Renault Clio. This was the first time since 2004 that Peugeot's small, B-segment hatchback sold more than the Renault competitor.

Neither of these French hatchbacks, though, expected the strong growth of the third-place Dacia Sandero, which was up 44% over 2020.

The UK saw a change in 2021. For the first time since 2009, the Ford Fiesta did not take top place. Instead, the Vauxhall Corsa took the top spot for the first time since its introduction.

The Corsa managed to get more customers than the Fiesta because the Fiesta was negatively affected by the growing popularity of the Ford Puma.

Meanwhile, the Tesla Model 3 occupied the second position, which was its best result among the 10 largest automotive markets in the world. In third place, there was the Mini three- and five-door Hardtop.

What about Australia? It was a race to the finish between the Toyota HiLux and the Ford Ranger. They sold more than 103,000 vehicles combined which is more than 10% of Australia's 1,049,831 vehicles sold last year. That represents an increase of 14.5% on 2020.

SUVs accounted for more than half of all sales for the first time in Australia, reflecting the increasing preference for high-riding vehicles. Toyota led two of the four SUV categories with the Toyota Prado (21,299) and the RAV4 (35,751).

And here at home, the number 1 seller was again the Ford Ranger with 10,249 sold in 2021 followed by the Toyota Hi-Lux with 7,119. Pickup trucks have always been popular in New Zealand and like SUVs these two categories dominate the vehicle market.

Coming in third was the Mitsubishi Outlander with 4973 sold in 2021, it's an SUV/truck that has grabbed one of the top places.

October 2022