February 2025 National Auto Sales Report

February sales was sort of the good news, bad news story now that the automakers that report sales monthly have weighed in.  Of course, we’ll see a much more accurate picture after the end of this month when quarterly results are reported by all automakers.  Some were up, some were down, and some even set new February sales records.

On the positive side of sales versus February 2024 were the trio of Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia.  Also, Mazda, Subaru, and Lexus eked out gains.  Falling were legacy brands Ford, Lincoln, Acura, Honda, and Toyota.

All together from the reporting car companies, sales fell 2.7% from a year ago, but it is important to note that 2024 was a leap year, so there was one extra selling day a year ago which can make a huge difference and more than account for a slight sales drop.

February Tidbits and Incentives

• J.D. Power data shows the average new-vehicle retail transaction price was expected to total $44,619 in February, up $71 from February 2024. However, that is well below the record set during Covid of $47,329 in December 2022.
• As I’ve told you on the show, incentives on pickups, SUVs, crossovers and minivans in February were up. Amounts are expected to be $3,393 per vehicle, up $633 from a year earlier, while the average discount on cars was projected to be $2,467, up $371 from February 2024.
• Average monthly finance payments were on track to be $738 last month, up $17 from February 2024 and the highest February on record. The average interest rate on a new-vehicle loan was expected to be 6.8 percent, down 0.03 percentage points from a year earlier.
• Fleet deliveries were expected to account for 18.8 percent of total light-vehicle sales in February, down 3.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Inventory levels remain mostly too high

Good news for consumers, most dealers still have too much inventory, which will keep incentive spending high.  Cox Automotive reports total unsold new vehicles at the start of February stood at 2.95 million, or a 94-day supply, nearly 2 percent higher than at the start of the year and roughly 15 percent above early February 2024.  Remember, I have said many times that a 60-day supply is perfect, but most dealers operate with a 75-day supply.

Hybrids continue to be hot sellers. Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, and Honda have the fewest cars and crossover vehicles overall, thanks to brisk hybrid sales. Ford, Lincoln, Buick, Hyundai, Ram, Jeep, and Dodge, are the most over-inventoried.

The tariffs on Canada & Mexico

The Trump administration made good on its promise to put tariffs on all goods coming in from our neighbors to the north and the south.  What affect this will have on auto prices remains a mystery right now.  Some of the increase in costs can be absorbed, especially since the automakers have raised prices substantially in the past couple of years. 

With that said, you might want to move quickly if your plans are to purchase or lease one of these top sellers like Chevrolet, GMC, and Ram full-size pickups, the Toyota RAV4, Tacoma, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Bronco Sport and Maverick, the Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer; the GMC Terrain, Honda HR-V, Civic and CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Lexus RX, Audi Q5, and Volkswagen’s Jetta, Taos and Tiguan.

Here are the sales for February 2025 from automakers that report monthly, and how that compares to February 2024: