Truck Prices Continue To Outpace Cars in March

Last year, a rush to buy new cars before tariffs rolled out spurred an increase in demand. But automakers saw an opportunity around their bestselling trucks and added more incentives to boost numbers even higher. In March 2025, truck incentives on the four bestsellers hit their highest level in two years. This March, those incentives came back to reality, falling 13% compared to last year. Cars saw nearly the exact opposite, with incentives spiking 58% in March compared to last year, keeping the price buyers paid in check as MSRPs rose.

This dichotomy between the bestselling cars and trucks is similar to what CDK tracked in last month’s Affordability Tracker. And as we’ve seen, today’s bestselling cars are holding steady compared to the overall average for all cars and trucks. That means the bread-and-butter cars of the industry still look affordable with an average transaction price of $35,585.

The Results

The primary reason CDK started to track bestsellers was the recent economic conditions skewing the overall average transaction price due to truck and luxury sales tipping the scales to prices most shoppers don’t pay. In short, while the average transaction price of all vehicles is up over 3% versus last March nearing $50,000, the bestselling cars were up .6%. That’s also much closer to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ most recent 0.5% number in February.

That .6% is equivalent to $220 more per sale compared to last year but the monthly change of .1%, or $53, isn’t insignificant. If that stayed consistent for the rest of 2026, it’d more than double the increase of the last year. Bestseller prices may not be as eye-popping as the overall market, but $50 here and there might sneak up on the mass-market buyer. 

Trucks are in a completely different universe, however. Month-over-month increases for the four bestselling trucks are 8X that of the cars CDK tracks and 9X year over year. This divergence is driven by the opposite shifts in incentive levels for both groups. 

Discounts

Automakers increased car incentives significantly from last year, up 58%, while truck incentives fell 13%. This is mostly due to a push to sell more trucks during the tariff panic of last March but similar, if not as severe, trends were seen in February too. 

The Ford F-150 saw sales slow in Q1 of 2026 due to supply issues after an aluminum plant was damaged in September. The model continues to have lower incentives than its competitors but added $321 to February’s discounts. Chevy and Ram are moving in the opposite direction, reducing incentives while GMC remained relatively stable. 

On the car side, it was a tale of two automakers, which likely won’t surprise industry watchers. Toyota and Honda kept incentives for their bestsellers flat while every other automaker increased their incentive spend compared to February. 

How It Works

CDK selected the top 10 bestselling passenger vehicles* of 2025 sold at franchised dealerships (so no Tesla Model Y) according to automaker end-of-year sales results. Each month we take the average sale price and then subtract the average incentive amount (both dealer and automaker incentives) for the month and that leads to the average price paid, or transaction price, before taxes. All three are listed in our graphics.

The top 10 bestsellers in 2025 were:

1. Toyota RAV4
2. Honda CR-V
3. Toyota Camry
4. Toyota Tacoma*
5. Chevy Equinox
6. Toyota Corolla
7. Honda Civic
8. Hyundai Tucson
9. Ford Explorer
10. Nissan Rogue

We’ve also taken the top four bestselling light-duty pickup trucks in the country to show the difference in one of the most popular segments and one that customers generally don’t cross-shop with passenger vehicles. These include: 

• Ford F-150
• Chevrolet Silverado
• GMC Sierra
• Ram 1500

There are over 250 distinct models for sale in the U.S. These 14 made up 26% of all cars sold in the U.S. in 2025.

*While the Tacoma is a truck, because of its massive popularity, it seemed appropriate to include it as consumer trends are skewing toward rugged options across the board.