Tariffs? What Tariffs? GM and Ford Finish 2025 With Strong Sales Growth and Massive Stock Value Gains

The two remaining large legacy American automakers, Ford and GM both finished 2025 with massive stock valuation gains and increased vehicle deliveries. Let’s examine their results and see how they fared in their first year under President Trump’s new economic policies.

GM - Sales Up 6%, Stock Up 59%
GM led the industry with a 6% rise in sales in America. GM said its sales showed  growth across multiple areas of GM’s portfolio. “Demand for our brands and products is strong at every price point, and we are well‑positioned to build on this momentum in the year ahead,” said Duncan Aldred, GM senior VP and president of North America.

GM’s stock valuation ended on December 31st at 4pm with a valuation on the New York Stock Exchange of $81.33. That is up from its valuation of $51.77 on January 3, 2025. The current GM stock value is at its all time high, with its prior two highs occurring during President Trump's first term in office.

Ford - Sales Up 6%, Stock Up 33%
Ford had a banner year of sales across much of its portfolio. Ford’s press release called its truck and hybrid sales demand “torrid.” Weird word, but we think Ford means it in a positive way along lines of fiery passion. GM sells more full-sized trucks overall using two brands, but Ford will tell you that its F-Series truck is the top seller. Either way, they both kicked butt on their most profitable vehicles. Ford’s stock rose from $10.03 to $13.31 during the year.

Toyota and Honda Also Do Well
Both Toyota and Honda produce all of their top-selling models in America, supported by mostly American-made parts. Toyota’s stock also grew by leaps and bounds, and its deliveries in America went up 8%. Honda’s stock did quite well, and sales were up by about a percentage overall.

Stellantis Struggled a Bit
Netherlands-based Stellantis, which manufactures much of its American-market products in Canada, Mexico, and Italy, had a tough year. Sales declined by 3% and its stock also suffered.

Tesla - Stock Up, Sales About Flat
Tesla is a small player overall in terms of American manufacturing, but it does support its entire U.S. fleet with domestically produced vehicles. Tesla does not report its deliveries by market, so we don’t know if its sales were up or down overall year over year. We predict sales will be roughly flat compared to 2024. Its stock was up quite a bit, but has since moderated. The Cybertruck was an abject failure, but its two successful models, Model 3 and Model Y, both had successful generation changes over the past year or so. Tesla remains a two-trick pony in our eyes.

That’s our snapshot of the major vehicle manufacturing companies operating in America. Feel free to offer your analysis in our comments section below. 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.