January 2025 National Auto Sales Report

The roll continues for the auto industry.  This is five months in a row that sales have topped the same month a year earlier.  Since this is the start of a new quarter, we only see sales from the automakers that still report monthly, but it is enough to get a good sense of the overall market.  We will see the entire first quarter after the close of business in March.

Januarys are difficult for dealers and automakers, with unpredictable weather, and a let down after sales hit a peak in December.  However, this year, strong incentives, and more-than-ample inventory levels (except Toyota & Lexus) enticed many people to jump on board.  The two leaders, Toyota and Ford were actually down, but all other automakers were up except Lincoln.  Hyundai take the prize for the most increase and was edged out in volume by sister automaker Kia.

The auto industry had a collective sigh of relief earlier this week when on the day before tariffs were to take effect, President Trump made temporary deals with Canada and Mexico to delay the 25% tariffs for 30 days.  For those wondering, this would have immediately affected 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 January 2025 from automakers that report monthly, and how that compares to January 2024:

1. 1. Toyota: 140,967 Down 2%
   2. Ford: 135,506 Down 6%
   3. Honda: 88,083 Up 4%
   4. Kia: 57,007 Up 12%
   5. Hyundai: 54,503 Up 15%
   6. Subaru: 46,354 Up 4%
   7. Mazda: 33,681 Up 11 %
   8. Lexus: 22,618 Up 1%
   9. Acura: 8,691  Up 1%
   10. Volvo: 8,136 Up 5%
   11. Lincoln:6,470 Down 7%
   12. Genesis:4,852 Up 14%

Photo Credit: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock.com.