First Half of 2025 U.S. Auto Sales: All Automakers Reporting 

A surge in new-vehicle sales helped lift automakers in the second quarter, but most of the action happened early as buyers rushed to take advantage of incentives and get ahead of looming tariffs. General Motors saw a 12% boost in U.S. first-half sales, with gains across all four brands. Trucks, crossovers, and EVs all outperformed the prior quarter, and GM’s EV sales more than doubled versus the same period a year ago.

Toyota also posted higher first-half results, even while battling lean inventories of sedans and crossovers. Lexus logged an increase too, despite holding some of the industry’s lowest stock levels. Ford had one of the strongest performances, with Q1 & Q2 sales combined up 7% thanks to strong demand for the F-Series and hybrids. The Employee Pricing campaign running since early April helped lift market share, even as EV sales dropped off. Stellantis managed to stop the bleeding at Ram, where incentives helped reverse recent declines, but the other brands showed losses of 5% to 49%. Still, overall U.S. sales for the company fell 11% for the quarter. Executives say they’ll lean into the momentum from Ram and Jeep in the second half, and as you’ll see in another story, our friend Tim Kuniskis is now in charge of all America, not just Ram. Watch for a turnaround as early as Q3.

As I predicted, inventory tightened through the second quarter as several major automakers struggled to keep up with demand for popular models. While overall supply remained higher than last year’s levels, inventory dipped in March and trended downward into June. Not every brand was squeezed—Hyundai and Volkswagen maintained healthier inventories—but many others faced slim pickings on high-demand models. Hyundai and Genesis were bright spots, setting second-quarter sales records behind strong hybrid demand and continued traction from crossovers like the GV70 and GV80. Hyundai credits its powertrain diversity for helping navigate shifting buyer preferences, and it plans new sales programs for the second half.

In the hotly-contested race for the top spot in U.S. sales, Toyota topped Ford by a mere 5,200 vehicles in the first half of 2025.  Combined the two huge brands sold just over 2.1 million vehicles together, so the Toyota lead is razor thin.  Toyota will have to up production in the second half to be able to hold on to a full-year victory.

Volkswagen’s six-quarter streak of growth ended abruptly as nearly all its models posted double-digit declines. Audi continued its downward slide with its sixth straight quarter of lower sales, lifted only slightly by a few models showing some spark. Nissan’s retail business edged upward thanks to a new dealer incentive strategy focused on U.S.-built models like the Rogue and Pathfinder. Overall sales edged up ever so slightly  as the company scaled back on rental fleet volume, now capped at under 12% of total mix.

Tesla’s global deliveries fell 13% in the first-half of 2025, pressured by delays in launching a budget-friendly model and increasing challenges from CEO Elon Musk’s polarizing political presence. Tesla is battling an aging product lineup and lack of new volume entries.

Affordability concerns loomed large across the quarter, with more buyers stretching loan terms to offset rising vehicle prices. In another story today, you can see just how many buyers are now paying more than $1,000 per month for their car payment.

When the smoke cleared, the first half of 2025 produced sales of 8,140,775 vehicles versus 7,885,149 in the first half of 2024.  Quarter 2 in 2025 saw sales of 4,207,796 versus Q2 2024 with sales of 4,112,546.  Now the challenge begins for Q3 with increased tariffs, likely fewer incentives, and the potential for inventory levels continuing to fall.

Here are your sales winners and losers across America for the first half of 2025, as opposed to the entire first half of 2024, listed in order of volume:

1. Toyota: 1,057,773 Up 4%

2. Ford: 1,052,577 Up 7%

3. Chevrolet: 914,451 Up 6%

4. Honda: 670,765 Up 7%

5. Nissan: 463,034 Up 0.3%

6. Hyundai: 439,280 Up 10%

7. Kia: 416,511 Up 8%

8. Subaru: 321,775 Down 0.2%

9. GMC: 315,906 Up 11%

10. Jeep: 289,398 Down 5%

11. Mazda: 210,298 Up 4%

12. Ram: 203,984 Up 2%

13. Lexus: 178,966 Up 7%

14. BMW: 178,499 Up 2%

15. Volkswagen: 159,310 Down 13%

16.  Mercedes-Benz: 157,700 Down 12%

17. Buick: 116,055 Up 29%

18. Cadillac: 86,104 Up 17%

19. Audi: 81,951 Down 12%

20. Acura: 68,386 Up 7%

21. Volvo: 64,680 Up 6%

22. Land Rover: 61,200 Up 26%

23. Chrysler: 58,244 Down 22%

24. Lincoln: 55,063 Up 13%

25. Mitsubishi: 53,753 Up 5%

26. Dodge: 47,481 Down 49%

27. Porsche: 38,696 Up 11%

28. Genesis: 37,361 Up 17%

29. Infiniti: 25,492 Down 1%

30. Mini: 14,592 Up 19%

31. Jaguar 4,800 Down 24%

32. Alfa Romeo: 3,164 Down 34%

33. Maserati: 2,800 Down 20%

34. Lamborghini: 1,625 Up 11%

35. Bentley: 1,495 Down 6%

36. Fiat: 916 Up 95%

37. Rolls-Royce: 750 Up 3%

38. McLaren: 570 Up 6%

All-Electrics:  Here are the sales reported by the all-electric automakers.  Most are “estimates” so I put no credence in the numbers, but for the record:

1. Tesla: 255,000 Down 13%
2. Rivian: 19,010 Down 24%
3. Polestar: 3,550 Up 4%
4. Lucid: 3,400 Up 62%
5. Vinfast: 1,205

Photo Credit: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock.com.