Car Sales Cool Off in October in the United States
Fleet purchases and strong demand for hybrid vehicles drove the U.S. automotive market last October to an estimated 1.3 million units, representing a 4% increase, according to estimates from GlobalData.
The analytics firm estimates that retail sales totaled 1.1 million, a figure 3.1% higher than in October of last year, while the remainder consisted of wholesale purchases, which increased by 9% over the same period.
GlobalData estimates that fleet sales have risen by 5.4% in the first 10 months of the year, while deliveries to private consumers have fallen by 2.9% over the same period—a trend attributed to a lack of affordable options, limited interest in electric vehicles, and low consumer confidence.
However, given that fleet sales account for only 17% of the sector’s total volume, the consulting firm anticipates a weaker end to the year and has therefore cut its sales forecast for all of 2026 by 40,000 units, bringing it to around 16.1 million—a figure with which Mobility Global agrees.
Among the automakers that still report their sales on a monthly basis—Mazda, Kia, and Honda—were the ones that posted the best results, with increases of 25%, 16%, and 8%, respectively.
Toyota joined the list, albeit with more moderate growth of 6.5 percent—a performance similar to that of Subaru, which reported a 6 percent increase, and Hyundai, which posted a 4.8 percent gain.
Ford, for its part, recorded a marginal decline of 0.5%, bringing its cumulative sales decline to -7.8% so far in 2026.
In Mazda’s case, monthly sales of the CX-30 fell by just under one percentage point, totaling 3,362 units. However, over the first 10 months, the cumulative decline stands at -25.3%, with a total of 37,748 crossovers sold.
At Kia, the K4—one of the few affordable options—paid off with deliveries totaling 11,391 units, representing a 14.4% increase. The compact model produced in Pesquería has accumulated sales of 117,598 units so far this year, a volume 4.2% higher than in the first ten months of last year.
It is also worth noting that the South Korean automaker sold nearly 1,000 units of the EV3 electric compact in October, bringing total deliveries to around 1,500 units.
Honda recorded an 11% increase in HR-V sales, which totaled 12,353 units; however, its cumulative deliveries for the year—nearly 121,000 crossovers—are down 4.4% from the volume a year ago.
As for the ADX, its sales fell by 7.8% in October, slightly exceeding 2,500 units. Year-to-date, cumulative deliveries total 27,719 units, a volume that is 91.5% higher than in 2025.
Finally, Ford reported a 4.5% increase in Bronco Sport sales for October, totaling 10,356 vehicles, while Maverick deliveries grew by 3.4% to around 11,500 units.
Ford has delivered 116,594 units of the Hermosillo-produced crossover so far this year, a figure that is 3% higher than that for the January–October period last year, while pickup truck sales reached 135,147 units—2.4% more than in 2025.
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