Toyota remained the world’s top selling carmaker in 2025. The company set new sales records despite tariffs and rising competition.
The Japanese automaker said vehicle sales rose 3.7% from the previous year. Toyota and its Lexus brand sold 10.5 million vehicles in total.
That was well ahead of its closest rivals. Volkswagen Group sold around 9 million vehicles. Hyundai Motor Group reported sales of 7.27 million units.
When Toyota’s subsidiaries are included, the numbers grow even higher. Daihatsu and Hino helped push group wide sales up 4.6%. Total sales reached a record 11.3 million vehicles.
Hybrid cars played a big role in Toyota’s success. Demand stayed strong in the United States. Popular models like the Prius and RAV4 continued to sell well.
Sales of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the US increased 7.3%. Nearly 2.93 million vehicles were sold.
This happened even with US tariffs in place. President Donald Trump first imposed a 25% tariff on Japanese cars. That was later reduced to 15%.
Toyota chose not to raise prices heavily. Instead, it absorbed much of the added cost. It also relied more on local production and cost cutting.
The company said tariffs will still be expensive. Toyota expects them to cost about 1.45 trillion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
Even so, Toyota raised its profit forecast. It said demand remains strong outside the US and cost controls are working.
Exports from Japan to the US rose 14% in 2025. About 615,000 vehicles were shipped. Only about one fifth of Toyota’s US sales came from imports.
Other carmakers have not fared as well.
Hyundai reported global revenue growth of over 6%. Hybrid sales helped in the US. But operating profit fell 19.5% compared to last year.
Hyundai said US tariffs cost it around 4.1 trillion won.
Although tariffs were reduced to 15% last year, Trump recently warned they could rise again. He said South Korea has not moved fast enough on its side of the deal.
Hyundai shares dropped nearly 5% after those comments.
Hyundai relies more on imports than Toyota. Only about 40% of its US sales were made locally in 2025. The company wants to raise that to over 80% by 2030.
Toyota also continues to benefit from its early focus on hybrids. It still trails behind rivals in fully electric vehicles.
Sales of Toyota electric vehicles rose 42% last year. About 199,000 battery electric vehicles were sold.
By comparison, BYD sold 4.6 million vehicles in 2025. Around 2.26 million were fully electric. Tesla delivered about 1.64 million vehicles.
Toyota is now increasing its US investment. It plans to spend more than $900 million to expand hybrid production. Overall investment in the US could reach $10 billion over the next five years.
Global production also increased. Toyota built 11.2 million vehicles in 2025. That was up 5.7% from the previous year.
The company will report earnings on February 6. Analysts expect profits to rise sharply.
Toyota shares climbed 3% following the sales update.
