Another quarter in the books, and another three months of gains for (most) midsize trucks.
We’re now more than halfway through 2025, and it’s the least surprising development in the world to see the Toyota Tacoma is now firmly back in first place on the sales charts. Last year, we were dealing with some lull as the fourth-generation model got rolling. A horde of buyers seem to be willing to give the new 2.4-liter turbo I-4 a chance — either in vanilla or spicier hybrid form — to the point where it outsold the next most popular midsize truck (the Chevy Colorado) two-to-one.
So, say it with me, Toyota is dominating the market once again. Actually, while the automaker is a wide margin ahead in this segment, its larger Tundra is falling behind the pack so far this year.
Here’s how each midsize truck performed over the past three months:
Midsize truck sales: Q2 2025 (April 1 – June 30)
| Model | Q2 2025 (Apr – Jun) | Q2 2024 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Tacoma | 71,048 | 47,879 | +48.4% |
| GM Trucks (COMBINED)1 | 36,202 | 38,252 | -5.4% |
| Chevy Colorado | 26,959 | 26,901 | +0.2% |
| Ford Ranger | 18,064 | 13,257 | +36.3% |
| Nissan Frontier | 16,117 | 20,219 | -20.3% |
| Jeep Gladiator | 13,343 | 10,489 | +27.2% |
| Honda Ridgeline | 13,330 | 8,626 | +54.5% |
| GMC Canyon | 9,243 | 11,351 | -18.6% |
| TOTAL SALES: | 168,104 | 138,722 | +21.2% |
Apart from tens of thousands opting for the Taco each month, a couple other models gained serious ground in Q2. Both the Ford Ranger and Jeep Gladiator picked up by double digits, no doubt spurred on by their respective automakers’ employee pricing sales events. The Honda Ridgeline also made huge gains in the second quarter, knocking the GMC Canyon (which weirdly fell 18.2%, even as the Chevy Colorado held steady) into last place for sales between April 1 and June 30.
The GMC Canyon isn’t alone in its quarterly slide, though…it gets to commiserate with the Nissan Frontier. Sales of Nissan’s midsize truck dropped a precipitous 20.3% over the past three months, and since the full-size Titan is no longer in production, the automaker appears to be in some trouble as it loses ground with truck buyers. More broadly speaking, Nissan has enormous challenges ahead as it aims to cut costs and get back into contention after a failed merger with Honda. Its new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, is already taking dramatic action to cut costs by reducing tens of thousands of jobs and shutter plants as he aims to cut billions in costs and boost competitiveness over the coming years.
Year-to-date midsize truck sales
| Model | YTD 2025 (Jan – Jun) | YTD 2024 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Tacoma | 130,873 | 69,437 | +88.5% |
| GM (COMBINED)1 | 71,154 | 58,658 | +21.3% |
| Chevy Colorado | 52,815 | 41,823 | +26.3% |
| Ford Ranger | 32,977 | 15,175 | +117.3% |
| Nissan Frontier | 30,598 | 39,963 | -23.4% |
| Jeep Gladiator | 25,400 | 23,478 | +8.2% |
| Honda Ridgeline | 24,281 | 19,922 | +21.9% |
| GMC Canyon | 18,339 | 16,835 | +8.9% |
| TOTAL SALES: | 255,564 | 226,633 | +12.8% |
Zoom out to include all year-to-date sales since January 1, and the picture doesn’t change much from quarter to quarter. Again, the new Toyota Tacoma is now in its stride as volumes so far this year have picked up 88.5%. That said, it’s far from the only winner, as GM and Ford dealers also notched quite a few more sales. The Ranger, in fact, continued to build momentum throughout the first six months of 2025, more than doubling its sales from last year, as the company was also rolling out its latest-generation model.
The Jeep Gladiator and GMC Canyon have both made modest gains, even if they were the only models to increase by single-digit percentages over 2024. That’s still progress, as the whole midsize market gained 12.8% over the same time frame in 2024. One thing is clear: You all absolutely love picking up a midsize truck for your driveway.
Well, at least you’re keen to buy most midsize trucks. Even while Honda’s aging Ridgeline gained more than 20% year-over-year, the poor Nissan Frontier is the only truck to lose ground over the first six months of 2025. It seems the refresh didn’t do enough to improve its fortunes, and while we contend it is a solid offering in the segment, “solid” just isn’t going to cut it here. Competition in the midsize segment is cutthroat, and the Frontier’s rivals are attracting buyers in spades. So, how will Nissan respond? Hopefully, it won’t let the Frontier wither on the vine, as it did with the (also solidly good) Titan.
The small truck story is getting increasingly one-sided
Stepping down a size segment, the small truck market still only has two players to speak of — at least for now. Take a look at the sales charts, and there’s really only one significant force in the market, and that’s the Ford Maverick. Sales of Ford’s smallest current truck picked up 26.3% in the second quarter, buoyed by a refresh with an all-wheel drive hybrid model.
But, what about the Hyundai Santa Cruz? Well, the numbers seem to play out about the same as the Nissan Frontier. Hyundai also slightly updated its Maverick rival for the 2025 model year, but it doesn’t seem to have boosted its fortunes much at all. Sure, the Santa Cruz was never going to sell in massive numbers like the closely related Tucson crossover (which, coincidentally, is up 25% quarter-over-quarter and 23% up throughout the whole year thus far), its sales decline is making it one of the least popular models in Hyundai’s lineup, and the slowest seller when you factor out its electric vehicles.
Q2 2025 sales: Ford Maverick vs Hyundai Santa Cruz:
| Model | Q1 2025 | Q1 2024 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Maverick | 48,041 | 38,052 | +26.3% |
| Hyundai Santa Cruz | 7,573 | 9,528 | -20.5% |
| TOTAL SALES: | 55,614 | 47,580 | +16.9% |
Year-to-date sales: Ford Maverick vs Hyundai Santa Cruz
| Model | YTD 2025 (Jan – Jun) | YTD 2024 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Maverick | 86,056 | 77,133 | +11.6% |
| Hyundai Santa Cruz | 14,221 | 17,945 | -21.8% |
| TOTAL SALES: | 100,277 | 95,078 | +5.5% |
Again, zoom out to a full year-to-date picture, and this fight gets even more one-sided. At this rate, the Ford Maverick is outselling its rival by more than six-to-one. More than that, the Maverick has proven to be a hit for Ford, offering a truck along the lines of the old Ranger: something that’s affordable and efficient for a growing number of people looking for a more practical solution against your everyday passenger car or crossover.
So, where do we go from here? We’ll see how sales continue to shake out in the third quarter and beyond. Unlike the Alabama-built Hyundai Santa Cruz, the Ford Maverick built in Hermosillo, Mexico may actually face some headwinds depending on the macroeconomic climate, as automakers scramble to shift more production stateside to avoid import tariffs.
