What's the best selling generation of 4runner thus far?

[2003Can4runner]

What gen. sold the most units? 1, 2, 3 or 4? I tried finding some numbers but had no luck.

 

[peter78]

Good question. I am not really sure. Hopefully someone can chime in. With $4 gas and our economic down turn, I would guess the third generation may have the biggest total.

 

[borgzman]

Its really different when people where rich.

Auto sales went down together with worsening world economy. So, i think 2nd and 3rd gens were selling good at that time, compared to the 4th gens.

Inorder for a new model sales to miraculously soar high, it has to be 5th gen 4Runner "Prius Edition".

 

[techno]

Wikipedia has sales figures from 2000 on. Doesn't really help you a great deal, but its a start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_4Runner

 

[jmc8387]

I too would assume the 3rd gen. sold the most. The late 90's early 00's were when SUV's really were at their peek in popularity. Since then it has dwindled down each year with the introduction of more CUV's and greater concern with gas millage.

 

[2003Can4runner]

If I had to guess I'd say 3rd gen as well. I'd like to see some figures to see how much better though!

 

[peter78]

Auto sales went down together with worsening world economy. So, i think 2nd and 3rd gens were selling good at that time, compared to the 4th gens.

I know in 2000, the 4Runner was the best selling SUV in the Toyota line-up. The Highlander stopped that. One reason I gave the 3rd gen. the nod, is because it had one more year of production than the 2nd gen.

 

[GatorGreg]

Off the top of my head I would say it has to be the third gen. It was tied with the 4th gen for longest model year run of seven years. Also, I know it had several years where it topped 100,000 in sales by a large margin and even in its 7th final year '02 it was still over 70,000 in sales I believe. In contrast, the 4th gen's 6th and 7th model years ('08 and '09) have been a sales disaster because of gas prices and the great recession - it has barely sold over a 1,000 per month of late. The fourth gen did have several strong years over 100,000 I believe in it first few years though - and probably would have passed up the third gen but for the abysmal final two years.

So I believe the sales ranking would be as follows:

1st place: 3rd gen
2nd place: 4th gen
3rd place: 2nd gen
4th place: 1st gen

 

[ToyTech99]

I don't have any proof (this is just an educated guess), but I'd definitely say the 3rd gen is probably the all-time sales leader. The 4th gen was sold for just as many model years, but due to the economic downturn, the 4th gen hasn't sold well for the last 2 or 3 years. It would have been much more interesting if the economy was still going strong. Then I think the 4th gen would have been the all-time sales leader for 4Runners.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Sales figures by each year are listed
http://www.top4runners.com/runhist/index.html

3rd gens sold the best and one of those 3rd gen years had the highest sales of any year.

 

[Duhockey]

Sales figures by each year are listed
http://www.top4runners.com/runhist/index.html

3rd gens sold the best and one of those 3rd gen years had the highest sales of any year.

Great info!!