Ford Tops May 2025 U.S. Auto Sales

The frenzy to beat the tariffs we saw in April continued through May as the majority of automakers that report sales monthly showed increases as compared to May of 2024. We will be able to see the rest of the automakers sales for the second quarter after the sale closeout of June in early July.

The tight race between Ford and Toyota continued in May, with Ford ending up on top by a scant 773 vehicles out of 416,000 sold between the two giants.  Toyota had their 3^rd in a row monthly sales gain, up 12% and Ford was up 15% from a year ago.  Ford also reported F-150 sales were up 15%, while Lincoln jumped 39%.

Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia all showed sales increases from a year ago, as did Honda, Volvo, and Lexus. Mazda showed a rare sales decrease, falling 19% but the company is still ahead for the first five months versus the first five months of 2024.

The shocker was a 10% decrease for Subaru.  The popular automaker was off 10% from May 2024 ending a long 33-month string of sales increases in a row.  Forester was the best-selling Subi in the lineup, but CrossTrek jumped up 15% from a year ago to outsell the Outback by a pretty hefty number.  Sales of the flagship Ascent were down almost 20%.

All automakers are seeing decreased levels of inventory going into to June, a trend that is expected to continue as automakers reduce production and incentives to try to figure out how best to handle the tariffs.

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