Another year gone, and 2025 was still a strong year for car sales.
In countless ways, last year was a whirlwind year across the board. As we work through the first week of January, automakers are reporting their fourth-quarter and year-end sales figures, with some surprising results. While 2025’s news cycle surrounding the auto industry centered around major changes like U.S. trade policy and the expiration of the federal EV tax credit, millions of Americans went out and picked up a new set of wheels. In going through all the data, some notable trends (hits and misses) emerged.
We’ll get into other fun sales trends as well as truck sales over on the TFLtruck website, but this homes in on five hits and misses we noticed when going through sales reports (at least for the automakers that have reported so far).
Hit: Big three-row SUVs (and crossovers)
The song continues, where more and more of you folks settle in to a big ass, three-row SUV. The family haulers gained more ground this year, by and large, with hallmarks like the Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban and Ford Explorer tearing up their respective segments, sometimes with double-digit percentage increases over 2024.
On the full-size, body-on-frame SUV side of the equation, the Chevrolet Tahoe sold 114,202 units throughout the whole year — a 9% increase over 2024. The even larger Suburban did even better, picking up by 32% to sell 58,583 units. So, together, Chevrolet sold more than 170,000 of their big SUVs to remain some distance ahead of rivals over at Ford and Jeep.
The Ford Expedition did pick up a bit (10%) off its redesign, for 2025 sales of 84,921 units. The Nissan Armada also picked up by 14% for 17,465 sales.
Rounding out the Big Three’s biggest offerings, the Jeep Wagoneer didn’t fare quite as well. Sales were down 7% for 39,907 units, while the more auspicious and grandiose (read: expensive) Grand Wagoneer fell by 57% to just 5,133 units. Jeep is refreshing its Grand Wagoneer for 2026, and folding the more expensive “Wagoneer” models under the Grand banner, so there will be a wider range of Grand Wagoneers available, rather than splitting things into two separate models.
The Toyota Grand Highlander continues to be a grand idea, as more folks buy three-row unibody crossovers.
Outside the “truckish” SUVs, three-row crossovers are also notably popular. The Ford Explorer is still the front-runner, with the Blue Oval shifting 222,706 examples of its updated sixth-generation model. The Toyota Grand Highlander, though, shrugged off its 2024 stop-sale to post a 91% increase in sales to 136,801 units.
Other popular examples include the Kia Telluride (123,281 units; up 7%) and the Hyundai Palisade (123,929 units; up 13%). Interestingly, these two siblings posted an almost exactly even 50-50 split on sales. Surprisingly, despite being ancient at 16 years old, the Dodge Durango also posted a 37% increase, with dealers moving a remarkable 81,168 units last year. The SRT Hellcat’s ongoing presence in the lineup certainly helps, as does its competitive price (and available V8 throughout the lineup) against the competition. While the Dodge brand is in a rough spot right now, the Durango is the one silver lining in an otherwise lackluster year for its sales volume.
Miss: Sports Cars
Broadly speaking, while SUVs large and small enjoyed sales growth this year, several sports cars didn’t do quite so well.
The Subaru WRX is a good case in post, as Subaru posted its lowest sales ever last year, at 10,930 units (down 41%). It’s a similar story with the BRZ, which dropped 14% to just 2,882 units. Now, sportier cars aren’t relatively high-volume sellers for any brand, but when your flagship performance model barely, barely outsells the Toyota-based Solterra EV’s 10,715 units…there’s a problem (and one of the WRX’s big issues right now is price, starting at just under $39K).
And the story goes on as you move down the line. The Toyota GR86, which is closely related to the BRZ, was down 13% to 9,940 sales last year. The Dodge Charger, another formerly strong seller, is also still down 94% from 2024 (to 2,141 units). The electric Charger Daytona did manage 7,141 sales, but that is still a far cry from the old days when Charger, and Challenger for that matter, would each sell 100,000 units or more.
As the only gas-powered pony car that’s seen continuous sales over 2025, the Ford Mustang did decently, holding its own with 45,333 units sold.
Hit: Minivans
The recurring theme over the years is one of SUV dominance. 2025 was a surprisingly strong year for minivans, though, as every single model picked up sales over 2024. That includes the Chrysler Pacifica, which holds on to its outright sales lead (110,006 units), but did only get a 2% bump over last year.
Other vans in the class, though, gained significant ground. The all-hybrid Toyota Sienna, for example, picked up 35% to nip at the Pacifica’s heels. It managed 101,486 sales in the U.S. last year. The Honda Odyssey, despite being the only model without a hybrid option at the moment, still gained 10% in sales to move 88,462 units. The updated Kia Carnival (which did finally get a hybrid version) picked up in 2025, to sell 71,917 units (up 44% year-over-year).
Miss: Station Wagons
While American families are still keeping the minivan humming along, they have continued to fall out of love with station wagons. Not that we have many options to choose from in the first place, but even Volvo is calling it and pulling out of the wagon game here in the U.S. in a few short months. The last remaining V60 Cross Country model is getting the ax by April, and it’s not difficult to see why. In 2025, Volvo dealers moved just 3,630 units. That is up from 2024, but when you see that the XC60 crossover outsold it by exactly 10-to-1, it’s emphatically clear why automakers aren’t chomping at the bit to introduce new wagons.
Some niche models are still hanging around. We finally get the BMW M5 Touring, for example, while its rivals over at Audi with the RS6 Avant and Mercedes-AMG with the E-Class also offer performance wagons. Apart from those high-dollar, low-volume models, though, new wagons are pretty much extinct in the U.S. market.
Hit: Off-Roaders
If your everyday family bus doesn’t appeal, then there’s a healthy selection of off-road SUVs — and more people continue to jump into the action. The Jeep Wrangler is still the king, selling 167,322 units (an 11% increase) in 2025.
But…the Ford Bronco is quickly gaining ground. Last year, Ford sold 146,007 Broncos, which amounts to a 34% increase. So, Jeep can still claim that it’s still the most popular off-roader even after half a decade of the new Bronco, but the automaker probably shouldn’t rest on its laurels. Fortunately, Jeep knows that, and that’s why we’re getting a new 392 special edition of the Wrangler, called the Moab, as well as a range of other special editions over the coming months.
The Toyota 4Runner and Land Cruiser also performed well. Coming off a fresh redesign, the 4Runner sold 98,805 units last year, for an 8% increase over 2024. Toyota’s 250 Series Land Cruiser is also hitting its stride, picking up by 51% to sell 43,946 examples in 2025. It’s still nowhere near RAV4 territory, but you see way more 250 Series LCs running about than you do the old 200 Series, since it’s still significantly more affordable.
In the off-road SUV space, though, the real star of the year is the redesigned 2026 Honda Passport. It may not be as hardcore as the Wrangler Rubicon or Bronco Badlands (or Raptor), but the boxy SUV sold a remarkable 55,321 examples last year. That’s a whopping 70% increase over the last-generation model, and vindication of Honda’s decision to separate the Passport from the larger, three-row Pilot.
Miss: EVs (but it’s not as bad as you might think)
With the federal tax credit disappearing on September 30, electric car makers were anticipating a major fallout in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t quite the sales collapse some might expect, with some EVs still keeping up the pace when you zoom out and look at full-year performance. Others, like the Honda Prologue which shifted just 932 sales in December (an 88% drop-off)…not so much.
Still, some cars like the Jeep Wagoneer S did gain momentum in 2025. Jeep dealers shifting 10,864 examples in the model’s first full year. The expensive Cadillac Escalade IQ also sold a staggering 8,115 examples, representing a 1,111% increase over 2024 (which wasn’t a full sales year, keep in mind). 8,115 sales may not sound like much, but when you consider the IQ costs at least $130,000, that’s a pretty solid number.
If it weren’t for EVs, Volkswagen would have suffered an even worse year than it did (there’s a bit of foreshadowing for you). The ID.4, despite earlier production issues, still managed to sell 22,373 units in 2025, an increase of 31.4%. The ID. Buzz also shifted 6,140 units, even though that wasn’t enough to save it from what VW insists is a temporary hiatus for 2026.
GM also fared well in the EV race. The Chevrolet Equinox EV doubled its sales from 2024, selling 57,945 units. Sales did drop off in the fourth quarter (as expected), but if EV sales are set to plummet, Q4 didn’t totally wipe out this car’s momentum.
Tesla, for its part, managed to deliver 1,636,129 vehicles globally in 2025. While it doesn’t break down region-specific sales, the company continues to produce a staggering number of EVs, with the Model 3 and Model Y comprising the vast majority of those sales. While it’s still a major player, it does face real challenges from Chinese automaker BYD, at least in markets outside the U.S., as Tesla lost its best-seller title in 2025.
Major Hit: Small SUVs (of course)
As ever, the meat of the market is with compact crossovers/SUVs, and 2025 was another year of massive sales. That said, major players like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V didn’t see major gains, even if they did pick up a little steam from 2024. In fact, Toyota dealers sold 479,288 RAV4s this past year. That’s a huge number of course, but represents a 1% increase overall, year-to-year.
It’s a similar story with the #2 contender. The Honda CR-V racked up 403,768 sales, or a 0.6% increase over 2024. Mind you, they’re still way out in front of the other small crossovers rounding out the top 5 bestsellers.
The Chevrolet Equinox had a great year, coming off a fresh redesign. Chevy dealers moved 274,356 examples (and this is just of the gas-powered SUV), representing a 32.1% increase. The Equinox EV didn’t do badly, either, picking up 100% more sales than it did in 2024 (57,945 units).
