Toyota sold 39,888 RAV4s in the United States in October 2026, up 0.6% from a year earlier. It was the compact SUV’s first monthly sales gain of the year, and it was enough to put the model ahead of the Honda CR-V, which sold just over 34,000 for the month. The result ends a stretch in which the CR-V had the better of the matchup.
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One month does not settle the annual race. Honda still leads for the year, and the RAV4 enters November with year-to-date sales down more than 26%. What changed in October was supply: after months of too few new RAV4s reaching dealers, Toyota had enough of the redesigned, electrified-only model to move volume again.
39,888 RAV4s against 34,815 CR-Vs
Autoblog’s Jacob Oliva reports the October figures from Automotive News, calling the gain “a much-needed shot in the arm” after a year of declines. Honda’s own numbers fill in the other side of the comparison: Autoblog’s Honda report puts the CR-V at 34,815, up 9.8% and a record for October, so the RAV4 won by about 5,000 units even as the CR-V set a record. The RAV4 accounted for about 21% of the Toyota division’s 188,392 vehicles in the month.
Automotive News first reported the result in its story on Toyota’s first RAV4 gain of the year and the Toyota brand’s 5.7% rise. Honda’s side of the ledger is in American Honda’s release, which announced the company’s best October in six years at 119,952 vehicles, up 8%. The CR-V’s model-level number comes through Autoblog, which reported the full breakdown of Honda’s month.
A 26% year-to-date hole and a supply problem
The RAV4 ruled the 2025 charts, and GoodCarBadCar’s sales table shows 479,288 sold that year, the highest annual total on its chart. In 2026 the model stumbled early. Through September it had sold 253,664, down 29.2% from 358,134 in the same period of 2025, and September itself came in at 34,192, down 6.6%.
Month to month, the improvement is clearer. October’s 39,888 is 5,696 units above September’s 34,192, a rise of about 17%, and above the roughly 33,200 a month the RAV4 averaged in the third quarter, when it sold 99,709. The year-over-year comparison looks flat because October 2025 was already about 39,650 by implication of the 0.6% gain, so the result measures a recovered supply line against a high bar rather than a surge in demand. Last year’s monthly average, 479,288 divided by twelve, was close to 39,900, and October only just matched it.
October’s 39,888 lifts the year-to-date figure to 293,552, still down more than 26%, which means the deficit narrowed by roughly three percentage points in one month. Autoblog blames supply, saying there were “not enough new RAV4s to go around, leaving eager buyers waiting and dealerships with empty lots.” Toyota is ramping production of the new-look RAV4, sold only with electrified powertrains, with factories in Canada, Japan and the United States contributing.
Hybrids made up about 84% of RAV4 sales, with plug-in hybrids supplying the rest, which works out to roughly 33,500 regular hybrids among the 39,888 sold. The Camry went all-hybrid last year, and the RAV4 lineup now follows a similar approach, so the compact SUV’s fortunes are tied to how fast Toyota can build electrified powertrains.
The calendar adds pressure. At the October pace of 39,888, the RAV4 would add roughly 80,000 more sales across November and December, lifting the year to something near 373,000, still well short of the 479,288 it posted in 2025. Honda’s CR-V, by comparison, has been the one Honda model carrying the whole lineup: its 34,815 October units were close to 29% of American Honda’s 119,952 total.
Toyota’s 188,392 and the 29-day supply
For the brand overall, CarPro’s October roundup shows Toyota Motor North America up 6.5% to 221,507 vehicles, with the Toyota division up 5.7% at 188,392 and Lexus at 33,115. Electrified vehicles, a category that spans hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric and hydrogen models, rose about 35% to 126,054, or about 57% of Toyota and Lexus volume. Toyota’s U.S. sales newsroom is where the company posts its monthly releases.
Inventory is the number to watch. Toyota ended October with a 29-day supply overall, 31 days for light trucks and 23 for passenger cars, but over half of that stock was still in transit rather than on dealer lots. The RAV4 is also back on top as Toyota’s best-seller, overtaking the Camry, which had held second place for months.
Autoblog says the RAV4 still faces “a mountain to climb” to win the annual title, and that whether a stronger finish can topple the CR-V “is anyone’s guess.” With the year-to-date gap measured in the tens of thousands and only two months left on the calendar, the answer depends on how quickly those in-transit units reach showrooms and whether Honda’s CR-V, which Autoblog says still leads for the year, keeps its own supply steady through the holiday sales period.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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