The Best-Selling Car in Every 2026 World Cup Nation, and the Traffic Rule You Need to Know
A Hebrew-language roundup looks at the 48 countries taking part in the 2026 World Cup through their car markets, naming the top-selling vehicle in each place in 2025 and pairing it with one notable traffic or driving rule. In many of the countries, the best-seller is a pickup, especially the Toyota Hilux, while the Skoda Octavia, Renault Clio, Dacia Sandero, and Ford’s F-Series or Ranger dominate several others.
Among the biggest markets, the United States was led by the Ford F-Series with 828,832 sales, while Toyota’s RAV4 was the top passenger car at 479,288. Canada’s best-seller was the Ford F-Series at 138,470, Brazil’s was the Fiat Strada at 142,883, and Germany’s remained the Volkswagen Golf at 85,500. Other major winners included the Honda N-Box in Japan, the Tesla Model Y in Norway, the Ford Puma in England, the Kia Sorento in South Korea, and the Toyota Hilux across many African and Latin American markets.
The piece also highlights local legal quirks, including Mexico City’s weekday driving restrictions based on license-plate digits, Sweden’s year-round headlight rule, Austria’s emergency corridor requirement, Switzerland’s limits on washing cars with hoses, Qatar’s refusal to let drivers leave the country with unpaid serious traffic fines, and Japan’s rule requiring proof of a private parking space before buying a full-size car. In France, drivers must keep a personal breathalyzer in the glove box, while Saudi Arabia now uses automated cameras after women were only allowed to drive starting in 2018.
The article spans countries from Mexico, South Africa and Turkey to Colombia, Panama, Croatia, and Ghana. It also notes special cases such as Iran’s locally built Peugeot 207, Uzbekistan’s Chevrolet Cobalt, and Colombia’s nighttime rule allowing drivers to treat red lights like stop signs and continue if the road is clear.
