Donald Trump is set to impose 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on imported vehicles in April. Not surprisingly, buyers were motivated to get deals done in March before prices increased. Many brands have posted strong and record sales numbers for the month. Toyota is no exception. Sales for the Japanese brand jumped 7.7 percent year over year in March. And you can attribute much of that increase to one of the brand’s perennial sales standouts, the Toyota Tacoma pickup.
Key Takeaways
- Toyota had a strong sales month in March
- The brand sold more than 23,000 Tacomas
- The Tacoma is currently outselling the Corolla
- The Land Cruiser, Prius, and Corolla Cross also had strong months
- And Toyota/Lexus sold nearly 300,000 hybrids in Q1
The Toyota Tacoma Is Outselling The Corolla
Traditionally, the Toyota Tacoma selling well is perhaps the surest thing in America after death and taxes. Numbers dipped with the roll-out of the all-new model at the start of 2024 — enough to drop the Taco below 200,000 units in the year. But the Tacoma is now back with a vengeance.
Toyota sold 23,949 Tacoma pickups in March, a 188 percent year-over-year improvement. The brand has sold 59,825 Tacomas so far in 2025, a 177.5 percent bump. Both the March and Q1 numbers are higher than the Toyota Corolla.
Toyota Also Had Some Other Sales Standouts
The Tacoma was not the only Toyota vehicle that had a big month. Toyota sold 5,680 Land Cruiser SUVs in March and 15,416 in Q1. The American Prado is outselling the three-row, more family-friendly Sequoia by about a 3-1 margin. Toyota sold 7,258 Prius vehicles in March, a bump of 77.5 percent year-over-year, and it’s up 25 percent through the whole of Q1. Toyota also delivered 10,879 Corolla Cross vehicles in March, a jump of 39.8 percent year-over-year.
Toyota continues to kill it with its hybrid lineup. Spurred by the new, all-hybrid Toyota Camry, which sold more than 70,000 units in Q1, Toyota and Lexus combined have sold 288,796 electrified vehicles in 2025, up 39.8 percent year-over-year.
TopSpeed’s Take
Unfortunately for Toyota, tariffs are coming. And the brand faces some significant exposure to them. A major impetus behind Tacoma’s sales boom was likely the fact that it is Mexican-built and will be subject to potential tariffs (though maybe not the full 25 percent). Toyota also builds the Land Cruiser and Prius in Japan, which won’t have the potential NAFTA loophole to lessen the burden.
Toyota hasn’t announced how it plans to address tariffs. The question is not whether the tariffs impact Toyota’s pricing, sales figures, and profits, but by how much. We suspect Toyota will try to spread the tariff cost across its entire vehicle lineup to mitigate the price increases for particular models like the Tacoma. If the tariffs stick long-term, we wouldn’t be surprised if Toyota tried to move some production of the Tacoma (and potentially other profitable TNGA-F vehicles) to the U.S.
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