S3, E80 - Have You Heard? Truck News!

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Have you heard?

I don't watch the news because I'm a kid.

So if you don't watch the news, you may not know that the sales numbers are in for 2025.

And I figured I would dedicate this.

Have you heard to all the numbers that are out there and a few anecdotal news pieces

that might tickle your fancy, if you will?

So the best selling full size SUV in the US for 2025 is the Chevy Tahoe at 114,202,

which was a 8.6% positive change over the year before.

And right behind it in number two is the GMC Yukon.

However, they did not break 100,000 units.

They're at 93,036, but that was still a 6.6% positive change.

And the Ford Expedition was third place at 85,921.

That was 10% better than 2024.

And then in fourth place is the Chevy Suburban with 58,683 units sold.

And that was 32.2% over last year, which is pretty crazy.

And if you add up the Tahoe and the Suburban, which are basically the same vehicle,

just a different wheelbase, you get about 172,000 or so.

That's a lot of vehicles.

And so it just shows the overall popularity of the Tahoe and Suburban combo.

And rounding out the top five, believe it or not, it was actually the Cadillac Escalade

with 49,000 units, 49,366.

And that was a 20.4% improvement over last year.

The Jeep Grand Wagoneer, which you could argue got a little greedy on pricing.

They sold 45,040 units, but that was actually 18.2% less than 2024.

The new redesign with the new front end that looks kind of like the Wagoneer S,

I think is really cool, saw one on the road for the first time the other day.

And I think it's a really modern take on the Grand Wagoneer and the Wagoneer.

And they went back to Jeep branding.

So there's no more confusion about what Wagoneer is, it being a sub brand,

all that kind of stuff, you can go get at your local Jeep dealer.

And I think that's going to help sales.

Plus they right-priced a lot of content on there.

Next up, Toyota Sequoia sold 26,186.3% change.

I mean, I think people who like that vehicle, like that vehicle.

Lincoln Navigator, 22,185.

It was a 42.8% over 24.

That's pretty impressive.

The Nissan Armada obviously got a redesign this year.

And it's good to see the Nissan numbers.

They sold 17,465.

I'm telling you, in the full-size space, it is an absolute sleeper.

And you do not want to pass it up if you're looking for a full-size SUV.

The Nissan Armada is really good.

I'm incredibly impressed with what a great vehicle that is.

And that was 14.4% better than 2024.

Again, that's 17,465.

And then the Infinity QX80, which is obviously the Armada Twin, 13,590.

It was up 31.4%.

This is what I find interesting.

The Cadillac Escalade EV, which is, if you've seen one of those things, they're massive.

It sold 8,115 models.

They only had 670 year before, so it's a 1,111% increase.

But that's because they were ramping up, not because people didn't buy them the year before,

but it was a new model.

The Lexus LX sold 74,64 up 9.3%.

So anyway, total full-size SUV sales was 541,253.

And that's an 11.4% increase.

So it's still a really popular segment.

And then one last thing to kind of comment on this space is that when you combine the brands,

right, it just shows you what a massive leader GM is.

323,402, which is 16% better.

Ford and Lincoln 108106, which is a 15.5% improvement.

And then Jeep with Grand Wagon, you're getting 45,040.

So it just shows you what a commanding lead.

And people love their Suburbans and Escalades and Yukon.

Pretty amazing.

All right, moving to mid-size and small pickup trucks.

Tacoma had its best year ever.

And lots of improvement across the board in this category.

So if you guys remember, we've talked about this before,

but the mid-size trucks were essentially dead a decade ago.

And now all of a sudden, it's one of the hottest markets out there.

Everybody's got to be in it.

In fact, Hyundai is dropping the Santa Cruz to put development dollars

into their mid-size truck, because they want in so bad.

So the mid-size truck market is just continuing to explode right now.

And I think you can see it from the sales.

If you look at the overall numbers, in 2025,

mid-size trucks sold 660,000 units across the industry, 6412.

That was up 24.4%.

Now, leading that was the Tacoma.

The Tacoma sold 274,638 units.

That's a 42% change, 42.4 over 2024.

Obviously, the new model was there as the first full year of it.

And people have responded incredibly well to the new Tacoma.

That's a massive number.

GM, if you combine Colorado and Canyon, are at 144,000.

That's 6% increase if you break them down.

The Colorado's in second place at 107,867.

It was a 10% increase.

And then Canyon's last, but we'll get to that in a minute.

The Ford Ranger, 70,960.

53.6% improvement.

The Nissan Frontier, despite a mid-cycle refresh,

went from 68155 to 65,232.

That's a negative 4.3% change.

I think that's because the Truck Show podcast wasn't

repping them this year.

So I'm 100% sure that if they would have stayed with us,

they would have been up in sales.

But we still love the Nissan Frontier.

The Gladiator, 56,790.

That's a 35% improvement.

And I've been driving that 2025 Gladiator.

I really like that thing.

Definitely a truck on my list.

But just to see that kind of improvement for them on the Gladiator,

which had kind of been struggling, is pretty crazy.

Honda Ridgeline, interesting.

They actually had a growth year, 48,448.

That was 6.7% better.

And then Canyon, this is where I'm a little bit surprised.

It was at 36,477 for 25 versus 38,000.

I guess that's not that much.

But just being down when almost everybody is up is crazy.

That was down 4.5%.

So down a little bit more than the Frontier.

So Frontier outsold it and didn't have as much of a loss as the Canyon.

And I actually think the Canyon looks better than the Colorado.

But I don't like the white interior on the off-road models like the AT4.

But I would be curious what is keeping somebody out of a GMC Canyon

and going to the Colorado.

Is there more value in the Colorado?

Is it better?

Because every GMC Canyon gets the wide body kit regardless of trim.

Whereas only the high-end off-road packages get that on the Colorado.

So anyway, I'm curious about that one.

What do you guys think about GMC Canyon being last on the list?

Is it dealer density?

But that doesn't really explain it either, right?

Because if you look at full-size SUVs,

GMC was right up there with everybody else.

So why is the Canyon behind?

Let me know.

Truck Show podcast at gmail.com.

All right, and then the compact pickups.

There's only two.

It's the Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz.

And this is super interesting.

Okay, Maverick sold.

And this was their mid-cycle refresh, which I liked a lot.

I thought the first Maverick was good.

This one's way better.

Bigger screen, a little bit more refined styling.

You can get all-wheel drive and a hybrid.

But a bunch of stuff that made Maverick better for 2025.

Up 18.2%.

That's 155,051 units.

Compare that to the Ranger?

The Ranger, again, was at 70,000.

So that's like two to one.

Maverick's outselling Ranger.

And when we talk about, was it going to cannibalize the Ranger?

I'm sure some of it happens.

But I think they're also bringing in some of that compact car market

because you can get the hybrid and they're really well-equipped

and get really good fuel economy.

I actually think they're growing the pickup truck space.

I don't think that the Maverick is stealing too much for the Ranger.

And the reason I say that is because the Ranger's still in third place

out of mid-sized pickup trucks.

So when you look at it that way,

I think it was a really smart move for Ford.

And here's what's interesting.

155,000.

Hyundai Santa Cruz was down 20%.

Sold 25,499.

So I think Hyundai is saying,

listen, we've played in this space.

It's not right for us.

We have visions of being in the mid-sized truck space

and we're going to do it.

So stay tuned.

Hyundai is, I think,

Hyundai is another one you don't want to sleep on

because when they put their mind to something,

just look at the Genesis brand

and a lot of their product lineup right now.

Plus they've decided that their off-road brand

is going to mean something.

And just like Honda dabbled in the water with trail sport

and then started making trail sport mean something,

you're starting to see that, I think, with Hyundai

on some future stuff coming up.

I think they're making a big play

because they want to be in that market

and playing with big boys.

That's one hole in their market that they don't have

and that's the mid-sized pickup truck

to really compete toe-to-toe with Toyota.

So stay tuned and we'll see what happens there.

All right.

So let's get to the big daddy of sales here

in the truck market

and that would be the full-size truck sales.

And these are the numbers for 2025.

GM trucks combined,

which is not how they report their sales numbers,

was number one.

And that's 936,586,

but still short of the million that we saw at one point.

That was a 7.1% improvement.

Ford F-Series, number one single-brand

best-selling vehicle in America for 400 years now.

828,832.

That was a change of 8.3% to the positive.

There's car companies that don't sell that many vehicles

across their portfolio, not even close,

and they do it with one vehicle.

But that being said,

it's got the complexity of an entire vehicle lineup.

All right.

In second place, Chevy Silverado, 580,368.

So that's a pretty steep decline from 828,

and that was up 5.5%.

Ram trucks had a tough year,

but recovered strong at the end,

I think with the changes,

with the Hemi coming back,

with people seeing that the Hurricane

was a pretty damn good engine.

374059, which is almost identical to 2024,

it was a 0.3% increase.

Ram is showing some major signs of life right now,

so stay tuned to those numbers for this year.

GMC Sierra, 356,218,

and that's a 9.7% change to the positive.

Interesting enough,

the Tundra really took a step back,

7.5% down from 2024.

They sold 147,610,

which is nothing to sneeze about,

but they're not even in the same ballpark

in terms of sales as the domestics, number one.

And they definitely had some quality concerns

that I think had some people pumping the brakes on

picking up a Tundra.

And if you're curious about F-150 Lightning,

it is included in the F-Series Tally,

just like Super Duty and F-150R,

and it sold 27,307 vehicles down 18.5%,

as we know it's been canceled.

It looks like the Tesla Cybertruck sold 38,965 vehicles in 2024,

and they dropped nearly 50% to 20,237,

and they still have lightnings $100.

Whoa, that's not right.

And if we head over to Rivian,

it looks like they sold 11,085 R1T electric trucks,

and that's about a 33% decline from 2024.

Hummer EV, 15,788, for a niche vehicle like that,

it was actually up 12.8%.

So that's kind of impressive to see something like that.

And there are still some Titans that got sold.

2043 Titans still left on lots,

and that was down 86%.

Of course, they don't make the Titan anymore.

The full-size truck market was up 4.7%.

That market was good for 2.3 million vehicles sold.

That's impressive.

And if you go for brands not counting EVs,

GM again, 901, Ford, 801, Chevy Silverado,

569,000, Ram Trucks, 374,000, GMC, 348,000.

Of course, GM Trucks at the top was combined,

Chevy and GMC, and Toyota Tundra, 147,000.

All right, and then in a couple of anecdotal stories here,

one having to do with sales,

and that's the sales race between the Ford Bronco

and the Jeep Wrangler.

And it was looking middle of last year

that Bronco was going to finally catch Wrangler,

but it just wasn't going to be the case for 2025,

and I'm sure they'll try again this year.

Ford ended up selling 146,007 Broncos through the end of 2025,

and that was a 30% plus increase over 2024.

But the Wrangler had a very strong finish,

recording nearly 40,000 sales in quarter four alone,

and topped 167,000 for 2025.

So that put Wrangler up 11% year over year,

but it also reversed its sales losses

over the past couple of years.

So I'm not sure if Bronco has helped the visibility of Jeep

and they get cross shopped.

Some people like Bronco and some like Jeep.

I feel like that segment's better with a competitor

because more people are coming in

and cross shopping and checking out

and there's just more awareness.

And it'll also be interesting

with the four by E Wrangler going away now,

what's going to happen with sales

and what the engine mix is going to be as well.

Because the Wrangler was the best selling hybrid

in America there for a while.

So that's going to be a lot of sales volume.

So we'll see what happens.

I wonder if they'll have more E-torque vehicles

kind of stand in for the plug-in hybrid or what?

I think there's more news to come there.

Anyway, Bronco still has some work to do,

just like Chevy versus Ford.

It's a fun sales race to watch.

And while we're on the topic of Wranglers,

the 2026 Jeep Wrangler topped the compact SUV residual value

ranking, which I don't know why they call it compact

because mine takes up a lot of space in my garage,

but it's also taller and bigger and wider.

Anyway, the US ALG residual value awards given by JD Power

has ranked the Wrangler as the top compact utility vehicle.

And residuals are great for people who are leasing,

but also for people who are buying who want to have value

when they turn their vehicle in for trade-in.

So according to Jeff Comer,

this award validates what owners already know.

And that's, quote unquote,

the Jeep Wrangler's recognition in the JD Power ALG

residual value awards underscores its enduring strength

in the market.

Among the many reasons customers choose a Wrangler

are for its capability, authenticity, and long-term value.

And this honor reinforces why it remains

the benchmark in the segment.

But basically what it means is that if you get a Wrangler,

you can have a vehicle that has a reputation

for holding value better than anything else in its class,

which as a Wrangler owner, I think it's pretty cool.

Well, we can't end the news without getting into a couple recalls.

Check engine light just went on

Noise under the hood takes like a bomb

Recall covers metal glass leather and plastic

Door handle pulled off in my hand just fantastic

So I feel like maybe we've been picking on Ford a lot lately

because I feel like there's been a lot of Ford recalls.

So let's pick on Stellantis for episode here.

Stellantis recently recalled 456,287 vehicles

over the trailer tow module defect.

And this could cause trailer lighting and brake failure.

Whoa.

So the recall again, recalling about 456,000 vehicles

is due to an improperly designed trailer tow module.

And according to the recall, affected vehicles

may experience the loss of trailer turn signal,

stop lamps, trailer brake functionality,

and any of these various things can happen without warning.

And the impacted vehicles are the following

that are equipped with the trailer tow module.

And that's the 24 to 26 Jeep wagon here.

That's 321 units.

The 26 Jeep Cherokee, 57 units.

The 25 to 26 Ram 1500, 312,365 units.

The 25 and 26 Ram 2500, 96,890 units.

The 25 to 26 Ram 3500, 30,142 units.

That's a truck you don't want the tow module to fail on.

25 to 26 Ram, 3500 chassis cab.

Oops, spoke too soon, the 5,711 units.

The Ram 4500 chassis cab, 2,319 units.

And the 20, 25, 26 Ram, 5,500 chassis cab, 8,482 units.

Zealers will replace the trailer tow module free of charge

and owner notification letters will be mailed out on March 24th.

But you can contact FCA ahead of time at 1-800-853-1403.

If you're looking for the recall number, that's 0-3-D.

And one other recall just so that you guys don't think I'm just

picking on Ford and Stalantis.

Here's one for you GM guys.

And that is the fact that GM is recalling 132,000 trucks

because their tailgates might fall open unexpectedly.

So apparently what happens is on Chevy Silverado,

2,500 and 3,500 models, as well as of course Sierras.

With manual tailgates that have power locks,

NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,

says that inside the assembly's electronic gate release switch,

which is vulnerable to water intrusion,

they found that if too much moisture finds its way into the module,

it short circuits and then the tailgate just drops on its own.

So the fix is simple and Chevy and GMC dealers will replace

the exterior touch pad switch assemblies.

And the owners are instructed to make sure their tailgates are latched

before driving.

GM says that it received 237 field complaints,

but any vehicles that were built after March 8th of 2024

are not affected because they made a change

to the way they seal the touch pad.

So if you have a tailgate that's dropping

or you're wondering why you keep finding it open

after you drive, that's probably why

and you'll want to head on down to your dealer.

All right, that's going to do it for this episode

of the Truck Show Podcast.

Don't forget to follow us on social at truckshowpodcast

at Sean P. Holman or send us an email at truckshowpodcastatgmail.com.

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Help a brother out.

Let's get those numbers up.

Appreciate you guys and let's do it again soon.

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S3, E80 - Have You Heard? Truck News!

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