In 2009, China's auto sales surpassed those of the United States for the first time, making it the largest new car market in the world. Since then, China has maintained its No. 1 position in global car sales, and it is also the only country that has broken through the 20 million mark.
In addition to being the largest car market, China also produces more cars than any other country. Moreover, with the development of Chinese automobile technology--especially for new-energy vehicles--Chinese independent automobile brands are expected to gain an even larger market share.
The United States and India are the world's second and third-largest car markets, respectively, while Japan has fallen to fourth place for the first time.
If you want to get a real idea of the auto industry's size, there's nothing better than looking at the top ten largest markets by new car sales (in millions).
Top 10 Largest Car Markets in The World | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Sales | Country | Change |
| #1 | 26,864,000 |  China | +2% |
| #2 | 13,828,337 |  United States | -8% |
| #3 | 4,367,964 |  India | +24% |
| #4 | 4,167,590 |  Japan | -5% |
| #5 | 2,874,828 |  Germany | 0% |
| #6 | 1,953,557 |  Brazil | -1% |
| #7 | 1,896,259 |  United Kingdom | -5% |
| #8 | 1,874,805 |  France | -10% |
| #9 | 1,652,305 |  South Korea | -2% |
| #10 | 1,551,409 |  Canada | -7% |
According to statistics from last year, China continued its 14-year streak as the world's largest car sales country, with 26.86 million vehicles sold in 2022, rising 0.2%. This huge market accounts for 38.3% of all global sales. The top three models sold in China in 2022 are the BYD Song PLUS (459,424 units) and Nissan Sylphy (446,492 units), followed by the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV (443384 units).
The U.S. remains the world's second-largest market for new vehicles, with 13.83 million units sold in 2022 and down 8% from last year—the lowest year-on-year volume since 2012. The U.S. auto market is still dominated by pickup trucks, and the top three models are Ford's F-series pickups, Chevrolet Silverado trucks, and Ram pickup trucks.
Most notably, India's car market surged to 43.68 million units in 2022, up 24 percent over the previous year, surpassing Japan for the first time to become the world's third-largest car market.
The Bottom Line
The auto industry, in general, has been riddled with uncertainty in recent years, mostly due to Chinese and Indian market uncertainty and fluctuations. Therefore, this is a very interesting report for anyone who loves cars or the automotive industry. Hopefully, this data will also be an eye-opener to some readers and clear some common misconceptions about these markets.
