Toyota Is Closer Than Ever To Ending GM’s 95-Year Sales Reign

The Gap Is Closing Fast

General Motors has ruled American car sales since 1931. For nearly a century, the Detroit giant has held the top spot as the best-selling automaker on its home soil. It stumbled only once, briefly, in 2021 when the global chip shortage kneecapped its production and handed Toyota a fleeting moment of glory. Now, that moment threatens to become permanent. According to a fresh forecast from Cox Automotive, Toyota is expected to command 15.8 percent of the US market in the first half of 2026, while GM's share slips to 16.8 percent. In raw numbers, Toyota is on track to sell around 1.25 million vehicles through June, against GM's projected 1.33 million. That gap is the narrowest it has ever been, outside of the chip crisis.

Twenty Hybrids vs. One

How this has happened is quite simple. Toyota offers hybrids across more than 20 models in its US lineup, from the perennial Camry to the RAV4, Corolla Cross, Highlander, and beyond. Through May, its electrified vehicle sales were up 5.6 percent in a market expected to shrink overall. GM, meanwhile, has the electrified Corvette essentially, and now has plans to strengthen its hybrid lineup. Ford isn't doing much better, with hybrid options limited to the Maverick, F-150, and Lincoln Nautilus. Fuel prices surging past four dollars a gallon have made trucks less attractive, which happens to be precisely where GM and Ford are strongest. It’s not like Toyota saw this coming, but it’s been subtly positioning itself in the right spot for this eventuality. 

The Late EV Arrival That's Actually Working

Toyota's EV story is one of the more ironic subplots in recent automotive history. Its first attempt, the bZ4X, was recalled over fears the wheels might literally detach from the car. Not a great look for a brand that built its entire reputation on reliability. But the redesigned 2026 bZ has quietly become a sleeper hit, shifting over 10,000 units in the first quarter of 2026 alone and outselling the Chevy Equinox EV in the process. Toyota now has four electric models on sale in the US, with a three-row electric Highlander and more arriving by 2027. The brand that was supposed to be the biggest EV laggard is now expanding its electric lineup while GM quietly scales back EV ambitions. Sometimes being fashionably late really does pay off.

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