Car Sales Hit Hard After Last Year’s Pre-tariff Surge

Several major car manufacturers, including Hyundai, Kia, Honda, and Toyota, reported year-over-year sales declines in April in the US compared to the spike experienced this time last year, before the Trump administration’s controversial ‘reciprocal’ tariffs were announced.

At Hyundai, sales slipped 2 percent, from 81,503 in April 2025 to 80,157 in April 2026. Year-to-date, its sales remain slightly in the green, sitting at 285,545 compared to 285,057. Sales of new Kia models were down 3 percent from 74,805 last April to 72,703 this year. Despite this fall, sales through the first four months of the year are up 2 percent to 279,718, a new year-to-date sales record for the brand.

Read: US Auto Sales On Track To Fall 6.3% In Q1, With One Detroit Brand Posting The Ugliest Numbers

Models performing well for Hyundai included the Elantra, with April sales up 13 percent to 14,778, as well as the Palisade (+8 percent), the Sonata (+18 percent), and the Venue (+6 percent). Vehicles that experienced a significant dip in sales included the Ioniq 6, down 82 percent; the Kona, down 15 percent; and the Santa Cruz and Santa Fe, down 24 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

For Kia, the EV9 was a standout with April sales rising from just 232 last year to 1,349 this year. Sales of the K5 also rose to 6,537 units, Seltos sales jumped from 4,051 to 5,335, and the Telluride rose from 10,860 to 12,577.

Industry Impacts

At American Honda, including the Acura and Honda brands, April sales slipped 0.2 percent to 137,405. This was triggered by a 15.6 percent decline in Acura sales, which fell from 14,019 to 11,834.

Things were particularly bad for Mazda, with its April sales slipping 17.3 percent from 37,660 to 31,128. Subaru sales also declined 5.9 percent to 52,733, Lexus sales dropped 19.9 percent to 28,187, and Toyota sales fell 1.8 percent to 194,191. Combined, total sales from American Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota were down 3.8 percent to 602,860.