If you’re thinking the RAV4, you’re wrong. The RAV4 is the best-selling Toyota in the lineup, aside from the Camry, Corolla, and Highlander. The Tacoma and Sienna are both good breadwinners for the Japanese company too, but they’ve always done fairly well.
The single SUV that had an incredibly bleak year was the 4Runner. It was introduced in 1996 and it sold incredibly well, as it could fit the family but still fit in the garage, go off-road but be comfortable on the highway, and mileage wasn’t too bad back in the day.
In 2009, though, the 4Runner’s sales figures dropped dramatically. In fact, it was the worst-selling car of that year, with a 66% drop compared to 2008. The gas prices (thanks to the gas crisis) made buyers nervous, as the bigger redesign and beefier engine made it a regular at the pumps.
Sales were so low, that the 4Runner was fourth on The Street‘s list of the “Biggest Loser” vehicles of that year.
Toyota’s price for the SUV was also considerably high at the time, pushing prospective buyers to the RAV4, or better yet, a Prius or Highlander hybrid.
The 4Runner wasn’t the only Toyota SUV that suffered
The FJ Cruiser’s sales took a hit that year too, but they weren’t as dramatic as the 4Runner. Sales for the off-roader dropped 58% compared to 2008, with many citing poor gas mileage as a main factor.
Now, of course, the 4Runner is one of Toyota’s best sellers. Unlike the Highlander, Land Cruiser, or RAV4, the recently refreshed 4Runner doesn’t come in a gas-mileage-saving hybrid configuration. Instead, the redesigned SUV shares the same performance-oriented hybrid powertrain as the 2024 Land Cruiser.
Since the Land Cruiser was introduced in 2024, sales have been impressive. In just four months of sales opening up, the automaker sold four times more units compared to any other year of sales.
