What Are the Top 5 Car Companies?
The world’s top 5 car companies by 2025 global sales are Toyota Motor Corporation (11M+ units), Volkswagen Group (~9M), Hyundai Motor Group (7.24M), Stellantis (5.51M), and BYD (4.60M). Toyota has held the number-one position for six consecutive years, while China’s BYD broke into the top five for the first time in 2025, overtaking General Motors, Ford, and Honda on the back of its electrified line-up.
The global automotive industry is in the middle of its biggest competitive shift in decades. Legacy manufacturers are defending market share through hybrid and combustion models, while Chinese groups are climbing quickly on the strength of electric vehicles. Below are the five companies leading global vehicle sales, based on full-year 2025 figures reported by manufacturers and independent industry analysts.
1. Toyota Motor Corporation — 11M+ units
Toyota finished 2025 as the world’s best-selling car manufacturer for the sixth consecutive year, delivering more than 11 million vehicles worldwide across its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino brands. The Japanese group holds roughly 12.3% of the global market and posted growth in both Asia (+3.3%) and the Americas (+3.6%). Its “multi-pathway” strategy — combining hybrids, combustion, and EVs rather than betting purely on electric — has protected volume as EV demand cooled in several major markets. The Toyota RAV4 remains one of the best-selling individual models in the world, edging out the Tesla Model Y at the top of the global sales chart. Toyotas are also consistently among the most-shipped vehicles out of the UK, particularly to Australia and New Zealand, where the brand dominates the used market.
2. Volkswagen Group — ~9M units
Germany’s Volkswagen Group holds the number-two spot with just under 9 million vehicles sold in 2025. Its portfolio spans mass-market (Volkswagen, Škoda, SEAT/CUPRA), premium (Audi), luxury (Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini), and heavy commercial (MAN, Scania, Traton). Volkswagen is also the number-one selling car brand in the United Kingdom for the fifth consecutive year — relevant context if you’re one of the thousands of UK owners looking to export a VW abroad. The group faces sustained pressure in China from local EV competitors, but remains dominant across Europe and Latin America, and is a common shipment on our UK to Spain and UK to Cyprus routes.
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3. Hyundai Motor Group — 7.24M units
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group — which includes Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis — took third place with 7.24 million global deliveries in 2025. The group has been one of the most consistent high-volume players of the past five years, combining aggressive design, competitive pricing, and one of the industry’s strongest EV line-ups (Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6, Kia EV6 and EV9). Hyundai and Kia are especially strong across the US, Europe, and emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa. Both brands appear frequently on our UK to Dubai / UAE and UK to Nigeria lanes, typically via RoRo shipping.
4. Stellantis — 5.51M units
Stellantis, formed from the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group, ranked fourth with 5.51 million sales in 2025. Its 14-brand portfolio — including Jeep, Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Ram, Vauxhall, Opel, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati — gives the group huge geographic reach across Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East. Stellantis posted an 11% year-on-year sales jump in the second half of 2025, though it continues to lose share to Chinese entrants in the European market. Higher-value Stellantis-family vehicles (Maserati, Alfa Romeo, certain Jeep models) are frequently exported from the UK via container shipping for the extra protection an enclosed shipment provides.
5. BYD — 4.60M units
China’s BYD is the biggest single story of 2025. The electrified-vehicle specialist edged into fifth place with 4.60 million sales, overtaking long-established rivals including General Motors (4.55M), Ford (4.39M), and Honda (3.46M) for the first time. BYD is now the world’s largest seller of pure-electric vehicles, ahead of Tesla, and its overseas exports jumped 145% year-on-year in 2025 to over 1.05 million units. That’s a clear signal that Chinese EVs are becoming a permanent fixture in global markets, not just a domestic phenomenon.
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What the 2025 rankings tell us
The 2025 top five split cleanly in two. Legacy giants — Toyota, VW, Hyundai, and Stellantis — still dominate absolute volume thanks to dense dealer networks, deep hybrid and combustion line-ups, and multi-brand portfolios. BYD’s arrival, meanwhile, signals how quickly Chinese EV makers are reshaping the global pecking order. General Motors slipping to sixth for the first time is the clearest evidence yet that the “Big Three” era of US-led global auto dominance is over.
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Cars from all five of these manufacturers move through UK export routes every week — Toyotas and Hyundais heading to Australia and New Zealand, Volkswagens and Stellantis-family brands to Cyprus and Spain, BYDs and other EVs to the UAE and East Africa. If you’re planning to ship a vehicle from the UK, ShipCars handles container, RoRo (roll-on/roll-off), and air freight shipments to destinations worldwide, with full marine insurance and end-to-end customs support.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which car company sells the most cars in the world in 2025?
Toyota Motor Corporation is the world’s best-selling car manufacturer in 2025 for the sixth consecutive year, delivering more than 11 million vehicles globally across its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino brands. Toyota holds roughly 12.3% of the global light-vehicle market — nearly twice the share of its nearest single-brand competitor. Its “multi-pathway” strategy of combining hybrids, combustion, and EVs has proven more resilient than pure-EV bets as global EV demand cooled through 2024–2025.
2. Is Tesla in the top 5 car companies?
No. Tesla is not in the global top 5 by unit sales. Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025 — an 8.6% year-on-year decline and its second consecutive annual drop — well behind BYD’s 4.60 million. Tesla now sits outside the top 10 auto groups overall, closer in volume to Suzuki. Tesla remains one of the most valuable carmakers by market capitalisation, but that is a separate ranking from unit sales — and BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest seller of pure-electric vehicles in 2025.
3. How are “top” car companies ranked — by sales, revenue, or market cap?
The three metrics produce three different rankings, which is why headlines often disagree. By unit sales (the standard industry measure), Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, Stellantis, and BYD lead. By revenue, Toyota and Volkswagen dominate given their premium and commercial vehicle mix. By market capitalisation, Tesla is by far the most valuable carmaker despite selling a fraction of Toyota’s volume. Industry “top 5” rankings almost always refer to unit sales — which is what this list uses.
4. Which car brand is the best-selling in the UK in 2025?
Volkswagen is the best-selling car brand in the UK in 2025 for the fifth consecutive year, ahead of BMW and Ford. The Ford Puma is the single best-selling individual model, but across all cars sold as a brand, Volkswagen leads. This UK-market dominance is one reason VW models are among the most commonly exported vehicles on ShipCars’ UK to Spain and UK to Cyprus lanes.
5. Why did General Motors drop out of the global top 5 in 2025?
GM slipped from fifth to sixth in 2025 (4.55M units) after being overtaken by China’s BYD (4.60M). GM’s US growth (+5.5% to 2.85M units) and modest recovery in China weren’t enough to offset BYD’s rapid electrified expansion. GM had also withdrawn from Europe years earlier, narrowing its global footprint. This is the first time in decades that no US-headquartered company sits in the global top five — a milestone that reflects how quickly Chinese EV makers are reshaping the industry.
