Most Popular Fuel-Powered Car Brands in the U.S. by Sales (2025)

Metric. “Sales” refers to full calendar-year U.S. deliveries/sales as reported by brands or compiled from manufacturer releases. To approximate passenger cars + SUVs (and avoid counting microbus-style vehicles), we subtract three categories from each brand’s total where applicable: pickup trucks, minivans, and commercial vans. The subtraction uses published model-level totals for 2025 and 2024, allowing an “adjusted YoY” for the passenger-car/SUV subset.

Fuel-powered scope. The U.S. market is increasingly mixed (gasoline, diesel, hybrid, plug-in, and battery electric). This ranking is designed to reflect brands most representative of fuel-powered driving; therefore, EV-only brands are excluded. Mainstream brands may still include some electrified sales inside totals; for most, gasoline and hybrid vehicles remain the bulk of volume.

Limitations. Brand reporting practices and definitions can differ (deliveries vs. sales, retail vs. fleet). “Adjusted sales” is an approximation and may not perfectly match registration-based totals. Some models blur segments (e.g., unibody pickups). The method is best used for ranking and market structure insights rather than exact accounting.

1) The “SUV default” continues. Industry reporting shows passenger-car volumes continue to shrink, while light trucks (a category that includes SUVs) remain the growth engine. This reinforces why brands with broad SUV lineups cluster at the top.

2) Pickup-heavy brands look very different after adjustment. When pickups and commercial vans are removed, brands that depend on trucks for volume fall back, revealing the underlying passenger-car/SUV demand picture.

3) Mid-tier brands compete on a narrow band of nameplates. In many brands, one or two crossovers account for a large share of annual volume. This creates high sensitivity to redesign cycles, incentives, and supply swings.

Shoppers. High-volume brands usually deliver broader dealer coverage, better parts availability, and deeper trim/inventory choices. Lower-volume brands can still be great picks, but availability and resale may vary by region.

Dealers and suppliers. The adjusted ranking highlights where passenger-vehicle demand concentrates, which matters for allocation, marketing spend, and service capacity planning.

Investors and analysts. The gap between total brand sales and adjusted passenger-vehicle sales is a quick proxy for “truck dependence” in the U.S. portfolio.