The RAV4 has been, for the last decade, on top of Toyota’s sales charts with a darn-near unbeatable combination of value, capability, versatility, and all-out consumer-friendly offerings. Heck, it even tops the US car market, with its biggest threat being the Ford F-150 — America’s true-blue baby. With Toyota’s Q1 2026 sales recently published, we’re seeing something that we haven’t seen in more than 10 years: the RAV4 knocked from Toyota’s top three. While there are underlying causes for this sales slump, one particular model has moved into the top slot, reclaiming Toyota’s bestseller title a decade after losing it.
The Camry Is King… For Now
As mentioned, Toyota’s Q1 2026 sales show a shocking shuffle among its top-selling models. The Camry, 10 years after giving up the bestselling crown to the RAV4, has taken the top position in the sales department with a respectable 30,680 units moved in the month of March (up 3.4%), and 78,255 units in Q1 2026 (up 11.3% year-on-year). This equates to roughly half of all Toyota cars sold both last month and for the entire year thus far.
The RAV4, on the other hand, is down 47.7% for March, moving 21,693 units compared to 41,509 last year. Zooming out doesn’t soothe the burn, as we see Q1 2026 numbers for the RAV4 tank even harder, with 58,896 units compared to 115,402 in Q1 2025 — a fall of 48.1%. As we can see, the Camry beats the RAV4 in both departments, signaling a shift that hasn’t been seen since the RAV4 took control of Toyota’s US sales 10 years ago.
Reasons For The RAV4’s Fall From Grace
Before RAV4 owners freak out, wondering what happened to their beloved SUV, there’s a perfectly logical, albeit inconvenient reason behind the RAV’s disappointing sales: production. The new-gen RAV4 arrived last year, and with it, a new production run. The problem is, Toyota has yet to ramp up production for the 2026 RAV4, keeping dealerships with impatient buyers on hold due to a lack of inventory. In other words, there simply aren’t enough 2026 RAV4s to go around. Our good friends over at CarBuzz spoke to a Toyota spokesperson about the hold-up, to which they replied, “The RAV4 volume was impacted by the model changeover to the all-new model … as is typical during a transition like this, production and availability can be affected as manufacturing shifts from the outgoing model to the new one.”
Toyota is expecting to fill up lots with 2026 RAV4s by the summer, though it’s definitely a shock seeing the oh-so mighty RAV4 take a hit like this. Additionally, considering the RAV4 sold 55,533 more units this time last year, the drop in sales hit Toyota’s pockets hard — a roughly $2 billion loss compared to Q1 2025. It’s reasonable to assume the Camry will be bumped back down to number two when production does take off, considering the sales history of the RAV4 and likely sales boom we’ll see once production meets demand. Speaking of sales history, the RAV4 sold 479,288 units in 2025, compared to the Camry’s 316,185 units in 2025.
The Camry Is A Solid Seller, Regardless
The Camry axed its gas-only options when it entered the current generation for the 2025 model year. This was a move that not only signaled Toyota’s commitment and confidence in its eco options but also its confidence in the Camry’s ability to maintain a strong presence in the auto industry amid the overwhelming demand for SUVs. They were correct in their assumptions, as the Camry is still going strong and is their current top-selling model — even knocking off the Tacoma, which sold 24,998 for March and 69,263 Q1 2026. When we consider Lexus, the Camry outsold the entire lineup for March 2026, with Lexus moving 29,011 total units; Lexus barely outsold the Camry for Q1 2026, with 80,952 total units so far. Outside of the Toyota umbrella, the Camry remains the bestselling sedan in the US.