Sales of new vehicles in the US jumped about 2% in 2025, according to a new analysis \u2013 despite panicked warnings that President Trump\u2019s tariffs would pummel the auto industry.<\/p>\n
The White House boasted that Trump\u2019s policies were to thank for the uptick, but many automakers said they haven\u2019t fully passed along tariff costs to consumers yet \u2013 and analysts are warning that sales could slump once those price hikes hit this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost vehicle sales metrics in 2025 were slightly stronger than many forecast \u2013 including us,\u201d Jeremy Robb<\/a>, interim chief economist at Cox Automotive, said in a Tuesday statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n The White House boasted that Trump\u2019s policies were to thank for the upbeat auto sales, but many automakers said they haven\u2019t fully passed along tariff costs to consumers yet. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n About 16.2 million new vehicles sold in the US in 2025, up 2.2% from the previous year, according to Cox Automotive<\/a>, fueled by demand for gas-powered trucks, SUVs and hybrids.<\/p>\n However, Cox Automotive expects US auto sales to decline 2.4%<\/a> this year as tariffs begin to take a toll. Edmunds, an online car review and vehicle pricing site, said it expects steady or lower sales in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile most vehicle sales figures in 2025 exceeded expectations, the outlook for 2026 suggests a slowdown across many important metrics,\u201d Cox stated.<\/p>\n Steep price tags<\/p>\n Last month, the average new-vehicle retail transaction price was estimated to reach $47,104 \u2013 up 1.5% or $715 from December 2024, according to JD Power, an auto data analytics firm.<\/p>\n Kelley Blue Book placed the average cost of a new ride at $49,740\u00a0in December, slightly down from a jaw-dropping $50,080 in October.<\/p>\n The steep price tags have led to some canceled sales and mounting delinquencies on payments<\/a> while consumers face ongoing economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n Still, General Motors, Lexus and Toyota reported annual US sales increases of 5.5%, 7% and 8%, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sales of new vehicles in the US jumped roughly 2% in 2025, according to a new analysis. REUTERS<\/p>\n Hyundai reported a record year<\/a> of US retail sales, Honda Motor saw its best year since 2021<\/a> and Ford notched its highest annual sales since 2019.<\/p>\n Stellantis, which owns brands including Ram and Dodge said sales fell 3.3%. But its Jeep brand reported its first US annual sales gain since 2018.<\/p>\n Trump touts tariff triumph<\/p>\n Coming in the wake of doom-and-gloom predictions about the impact of Trump\u2019s tariffs, the White House sounded a triumphant note on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThese so-called \u2018experts\u2019 could not have been more wrong,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cAutomakers are thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis success validates President Trump\u2019s all-out push to Make Driving Great Again.\u201d<\/p>\n It cited several Trump policies targeting the auto industry, such as tax deductions on auto loan interest payments, looser fuel economy standards, the end of a $7,500 EV tax credit and billions spent on US manufacturing from automakers seeking to avoid tariffs.<\/p>\n Automakers scrapped major plans for electric vehicle production in the US after Trump announced he would end the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs, which expired in September. Analysts attribute a spike in EV sales in early 2024 to the policy change, with consumers snatching them up before the tax credit ended.<\/p>\n About 16.2 million new vehicles sold in the US in 2025, up 2.2% from the previous year, according to Cox Automotive. Getty Images<\/p>\n General Motors said last summer it would use some plants originally slated for EV manufacturing to ramp up production of gas models. It was hit with a $1.6 billion charge due to the change in plans and said it expected more charges in the future.<\/p>\n Stellantis and Ford also killed their costly EV programs on a dime. The latter said it would take a $19.5 billion hit after scrapping a fully-electric version of its F-150 Lightning pickup, as well as a new electric truck and van.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to come up with a better plan,\u201d Ford CEO Jim Farley told Reuters earlier this year.<\/p>\n Sales face headwinds in 2026<\/p>\n Some automakers are also preparing to pass along tariff costs to consumers.<\/p>\n Toyota Motor North America has so far absorbed added tariff costs, but executives have said they can\u2019t hold out much longer \u2013 and they\u2019re expecting higher prices to dig into sales next year.<\/p>\n About 23% of its vehicles are imported from Japan, which is currently facing a 15% tariff, while imports from Mexico and Canada \u2013 which have a 25% tariff \u2013 account for roughly 28% of its sales.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n When it comes to shifting more production to the US, the company is \u201ccapped out,\u201d Andrew Gilleland, senior vice president of automotive operations was quoted as saying by Automotive News.<\/p>\n \u201cThe manufacturing people are going gray trying to figure out how to tweak it a little bit to get an extra 1 or 2%, but we\u2019re close to max,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPrices can\u2019t stay the same with a 15% tariff. It\u2019s just impossible for any brand to absorb that, there\u2019s not enough margin in the car,\u201d said Dave Christ, head of Toyota\u2019s US division.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sales of new vehicles in the US jumped about 2% in 2025, according to a new analysis \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[14806,28,101,1245,759,3479],"class_list":["post-394004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-auto","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-sales","tag-tariffs","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}