April 2025 National Auto Sales Report

April brought a burst of momentum to the U.S. auto market, with most early-reporting automakers posting double-digit sales gains. Toyota saw a 10% increase, Ford was up 15%, Honda 17%, Mazda jumped 21%, and General Motors, although they did not report officially projected a 20% year-over-year rise. Subaru was the only major outlier, continuing its 33-month sales streak but with a modest 0.3% gain, limited by low inventory following a record March. Volvo’s sales ticked up slightly as well.

The seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) hit 17.3 million—just behind March’s 17.8 million, the highest in four years—marking the first time since 2020 that the industry has posted back-to-back months above 17 million.

The surge was driven by consumer reaction to the announcement of new tariffs by the Trump administration. Fearing higher vehicle prices, buyers rushed to showrooms in late March and early April. According to Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke, sales peaked early in April and then slowed, revealing a demand curve shaped more by urgency than sustained growth.  Car Pro Dealers I have spoken with expressed to me that they were super busy in April, especially Ford dealers with the Employee Pricing event going on.

Industry leaders say inventory and pricing are becoming limiting factors. Toyota Division head Dave Christ likened the early-April activity to a "bank run," which quickly tapered off. Automakers with higher inventory levels posted stronger results, while brands like Toyota and Subaru struggled to meet demand.

Toyota began April with an 11.8-day supply and ended at 11.4 days, while Subaru’s inventory dipped below a 30-day supply on key models. Overall industry stock dropped from around 3 million to 2.6 million vehicles, and days’ supply fell to just over 60. To calm consumer uncertainty, several automakers, including Hyundai, guaranteed pricing through the end of May. But with new shipments soon to be tariff-exposed, further supply and pricing pressures are expected in the weeks ahead.  This is why I have been encouraging listeners to make a move now.

Here are the sales results for April 2025 vs. April 2024, from the automakers that report monthly: