The 43-year streak is officially over
Ford’s marketing department won’t let us forget that the F-series is “America’s favorite truck.” But for the first time in 43 years another vehicle model actually outsold the F-150. That’s another North American classic: the Ontario/Kentucky-built Toyota RAV4 took the F-150’s crown in 2024.
The King is dead! Long live the King!
Ford supports its “America’s favorite truck” claim by only publishing sales data for its entire “F-Series” lineup. This includes every full-size pickup truck, from V6-powered, short-bed F-150s to chassis-cab Super Duty trucks destined to become small busses.
That’s like if BMW lumped together everything from its 1 Series to 7 Series limousine sedans, published sales data for “BMW cars” and bragged it was outselling the Mustang. Even the biased writers at “Ford Authority” admit the numbers are slanted. It labeled the F-Series a “duo–consisting of the Ford F-150 and Ford Super Duty.”
Ford Authority poked around and found JATO Dynamics publishes separate sales data for the F-150 and Super Duty. The F-150 is no slouch: It has been the USA’s best-selling truck for 48 years. It has also been the USA’s best-selling vehicle for 43 years. But its reign finally came to an end.
In 2024, Ford sold 460,915 F-150s. Meanwhile, Toyota is up to 475,193 RAV4 sales–just beating out the F-150. But don’t worry Ford fans, the F-150 is still the best selling truck model by a mile.
The Toyota RAV4 is a North American classic, and outsold the F-150
Ford also loves to remind us that it assembles all its full-size trucks in the USA. And with both Ram and GM moving some full-size truck assembly south of the border, this is worth bragging about. But Japanese automakers have also been investing in factories in the USA, and across North America.
Toyota builds its hybrid RAV4 in Georgetown, Kentucky. The hybrid version is assembled alongside the Camry at Toyota’s largest factory in the world. Meanwhile, regular powertrain RAV4s hail from Canada. They are assembled at Canada’s Woodstock plant, which is between Detroit and Toronto.
So there you have it: after four decades of dominance the Ford F-150 is no longer the USA’s favorite vehicle–losing out to the RAV4. But Ford fans can still safely call it America’s favorite truck.
