US Car Sales Are Tipping Downward—Except for These Two Major Best-Sellers !! USA First Half 2026: Ram Pickup, Toyota Camry impress in market off -2.7%
The U.S. new light vehicle market is down -2.7% year-on-year over the First Half of 2026 to 7,934,650 units. Forecasts for the second half of the year aren’t more optimistic, and many analysts predict a negative market over the Full Year 2026. Hybrids are up 9% year-on-year over the period and help contain the market YoY loss. General Motors (-6.8%) falls faster than the market to 1.335 million sales, but retains its OEM crown above Toyota Motor (+0.5%). Ford Motor (-9.6%) struggles but Hyundai-Kia (+3%), American Honda (+2.4%) and Stellantis (+4.9%) are all up.
Brand-wise, Toyota (+1.5%) sails off and extends its lead over Ford (-9.7%) from 5,200 units over H1 2025 to 122,715 now. Chevrolet (-5.8%) stays in third place above Honda (+2.5%), Nissan (+0.4%) and Hyundai (+2.6%). Kia (+3.4%) posts the biggest year-on-year gain in the Top 10. Below, GMC (-0.2%), Jeep (-1.4%) and Subaru (-4.5%) skid. Just outside the Top 10, Ram (+15.4%) rallies back up, with BMW (+4.7%) also in great shape at #14. Chrysler (+15.3%) also makes itself noticed further down.
The Ford F-Series (-13.3%) suffers in the models pole position and sees its advantage over the #2, the Chevrolet Silverado (-4%) thaw from 128,810 units to 85,245. The Honda CR-V (+6.4%) steps up one spot to #3, becoming the country’s best-selling SUV and dislodging long-term leader the Toyota RAV4 (-35.7%) down to #8 over the period. The Ram Pickup (+19.1%) sports the biggest YoY uptick in the Top 10. A sign that more frugal sedans are on the way back in these high petrol prices times, the Toyota Camry is up 15.3% and three spots to #5 over the period. Below the GMC Sierra (+0.9%), the Tesla Model Y (+5.9%) is up two ranks to #7. The Toyota Tacoma (+9.9%) overtakes the Chevrolet Equinox (-10.8%) to #9.
