2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X with Carbon Aero package

GM

DETROIT — General Motors on Monday reported a 5.5% increase in its annual U.S. sales in 2025, despite a 6.9% decrease during the fourth quarter.

The Detroit automaker’s results were driven last year by incremental sales of EVs as well as gains in large SUVs and entry-level vehicles such as the Buick Envista.

GM’s 2025 sales are expected to be among the standouts for the U.S. automotive industry, which Cox Automotive expects to have risen about 2% to 16.3 million units compared with 2024.

GM is among a handful of automakers to report U.S. sales gains for 2025. Others include Toyota Motor‘s sales being up 8%; Hyundai and Kia each achieving third consecutive years of record sales with 8.4% and 7% increases, respectively; and Honda Motor up 0.5%.

Chrysler parent Stellantis was down 3.3% as it executes a U.S. turnaround plan. Notably, Stellantis’ Jeep brand — which was up less than 1% last year — achieved its first U.S. annual sales gain since 2018.

“With consecutive quarterly sales increases and market share growth, it’s clear that we are taking the right steps to reset our business in the U.S.,” Jeff Kommor, head of Stellantis U.S. retail sales, said in a release. “There is still work to do, but we made progress this year with a diversified powertrain lineup.”

GM, meanwhile, retained its position as the largest seller of vehicles in the U.S. It’s held that title for decades, aside from Toyota outselling the American automaker for one year amid major supply chain disruptions in 2021.

GM sold more than 2.85 million vehicles last year in the U.S, including roughly 703,000 during the fourth quarter. That compares to Toyota at 2.52 million U.S. sales in 2025.

“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,” GM President of North America Duncan Aldred said in a statement.

Aside from the U.S. sales crown, GM said it grew U.S. market share by half a percentage point, to 17%, and increased EV sales by 48% to become the country’s No. 2 seller of all-electric vehicles behind Tesla.

The post GM posts 5.5% U.S. sales gain in 2025, while Jeep ends annual declines appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Jeep is rolling out a freshly designed model after six consecutive years of annual sales declines.

The Stellantis automaker unveiled a new Jeep Cherokee on Thursday, the latest move to try to jump-start sales. It’s the first Jeep hybrid system, and the first for Stellantis in North America.

The 2026 Jeep Cherokee redesign aims to evoke the iconic Cherokee SUV brand, which has dotted the company’s history for decades. Jeep had previously discontinued the model in 2023 under Stellantis’ former CEO Carlos Tavares as part of various cost-cutting measures.

Thursday’s model marks the debut of Stellantis’ new 1.6-liter turbo-four hybrid powertrain, with more than 500 miles to a tank of fuel. The car will boast a “technology-filled interior,” according to the company, including Stellantis’ new Connect One services package.

The new model, which the company said is longer, taller and wider than the previous Cherokee, also maximizes its space with 30% more cargo capacity.

“The 2026 Jeep Cherokee is an incredibly capable and competitive midsize SUV that’s ready to reclaim our
territory in North America’s largest vehicle segment,” Jeep CEO Bob Broderdorf said in a statement.

The entry-level 2026 car starts at $36,995, including a $1,995 destination charge. The cars will arrive at dealerships toward the end of this year and the beginning of next year, with production taking place at Stellantis’ Mexico plant.

The 2026 Jeep Cherokee Overland.

Stellantis

The announcement comes as Jeep tries to reinvigorate its sales in what has been a yearslong slump for the brand.

Amid a six-year sales decline for Jeep, Stellantis is also facing headwinds from President Donald Trump’s tariffs, estimating its full-year impact for the company will reach 1.5 billion euros, or $1.74 billion. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, who took over the top job at the automaker earlier this summer, said on a July call with analysts that the company has been working with the Trump administration.

Filosa, who was previously the CEO for Jeep, has long aimed to recover Jeep’s market share through a revitalization of the Cherokee brand.

Stellantis touted a gradual improvement over the coming months in its first-half earnings in July.

“My first weeks as CEO have reconfirmed my strong conviction that we will fix what’s wrong in Stellantis by capitalizing on everything that’s right in Stellantis — starting from the strength, energy and ideas of our people, combined with the great new products we are now bringing to market,” Filosa said in a July statement.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

The post Stellantis unveils Jeep Cherokee as brand tries to reverse declines appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Stellantis’ Ram display is seen at the New York International Auto Show on April 16, 2025.

Danielle DeVries | CNBC

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis reemerged from a seven-month retirement late last year saying he “missed the fight” and admitting the Stellantis brand was getting smashed in the marketplace by its competition.

Kuniskis walked on stage during a media event as the speakers blared Detroit rapper Eminem singing “Guess who’s back, back again.” He promised an aggressive turnaround for the embattled truck brand that is now getting underway and will extend through 2026.

The plan includes more than 25 announcements through next year. Thus far they have included a return to NASCAR with mechanical bull rides and a new race truck, the resurrection of Hemi V-8 engines with a new “Symbol of Protest,” and, most recently, a new industry-leading powertrain warranty for its Ram products.

Since returning after a CEO shake-up, Kuniskis is invigorated. He’s “flying without a parachute,” as he recently described it, while playing with borrowed time and house money since his unretirement. He’s going all in to launch a renaissance of Ram, which has experienced a 38% sales decline since its record year back in 2019.

Ram Trucks CEO Tim Kuniskis inside the brand’s Ram 1500 NASCAR Truck Series concept.

Stellantis

“I have perfect clarity of my return because, after I left and had a chance to rest, I realized I didn’t need to leave, I just needed a break. Then I was itching to come back,” Kuniskis told CNBC during a recent interview in his relatively undecorated office. (He gave many of his career keepsakes away when he retired.) “We have a window of opportunity here to fix a lot of stuff, and some people are stressed out by that opportunity, and some people are fueled by it. Luckily, our team is fueled by it.”

Kuniskis, who was leading Ram and Dodge upon his retirement mid-last year, said an array of issues led to the brand’s current situation, including the automaker’s pricing, model launch cadence and, most importantly, problems with a redesign of its Ram 1500. That redesign led to production issues that are still being worked out more than a year after the vehicle’s launch.

“We tried to do too many things at once,” Kuniskis said of the Ram 1500. “We literally changed everything instead of doing a cadence of the changes.”

Kuniskis didn’t touch on the larger issues Stellantis was dealing with under former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who left the automaker in December. Kuniskis was recruited back to Ram amid the change in leadership.

Turnaround plan

Stellantis reveals its Ram 1500 NASCAR concept at the Michigan International Speedway in June 2025.

Stellantis

Ram is one of the most crucial of Stellantis’ 14 brands — if not the most important. It competes in the highly profitable full-size pickup truck market and industry experts said its success is key to the company reestablishing itself in the commercial sales market.

“It’s kind of the backbone of their business,” said Joseph Yoon, consumer insights analyst at CarMax‘s data and consumer car shopping site Edmunds.com. “The market share is hugely important.”

Market share for the Ram 1500 in the U.S. full-size pickup truck market has plummeted from 17.8% in 2019 to 8.4% through roughly the first half of this year, according to Edmunds.

Ram’s sales of full-size trucks, which includes the 1500 and larger versions, have declined 41% from 2019 through 2024, according to company data, allowing competitors such as General Motors and Toyota Motor to increase sales during that time.

While it’s early into the turnaround plan, which goes into next year, Ram has already resurrected its popular Hemi V-8 engine; reintroduced lower-priced pickup truck models; announced a return to NASCAR; and introduced a 10-year/100,000 limited powertrain warranty for new trucks across its lineup, among other things.

Kuniskis has said further announcements could encompass several new potential vehicles, including a passenger van and midsize pickup truck that’s expected in 2027. He’s also launched a “Nothing Stops Ram” marketing campaign and delayed the brand’s electrified pickup trucks amid low market demand.

“There’s always a method to the madness,” Kuniskis said. “There’s always a business reason behind something that seems like fun.”

Part of Ram’s new marketing efforts include a return to NASCAR truck racing, where race fans can “Ride the Hemi” – a mechanical bull ride that looks like the brand’s new “Symbol of Protest” Hemi logo that features the engine with a ram’s head.

Stellantis

Part of that “fun” includes a return to NASCAR truck racing, where fans can “Ride the Hemi” – a mechanical bull ride that looks like the brand’s new “Symbol of Protest” logo that features the engine with a ram’s head. If riders can stay on for 15 seconds, they receive a special-edition T-shirt that can’t be purchased.

Its splashy return to NASCAR earlier this month in Michigan also included a new truck design, as well as a vehicle doing doughnut burnouts.

Kuniskis declined to disclose sales targets for the Ram brand or its full-size pickup trucks, but he said the company is aiming for a market share somewhere between 20% and 29.9% for its full-size trucks by the end of the plan. Ram Trucks had a roughly 17% share of the U.S. full-size pickup truck market in 2024, according to industry data.

“I know exactly where we want to be and what our expectations are,” he said. “I should legitimately have a market share that starts with a two. … That’s a starting point for us.”

Part of Ram’s new marketing efforts include a return to NASCAR truck racing, where race fans can “Ride the Hemi” – a mechanical bull ride that looks like the brand’s new “Symbol of Protest” Hemi logo that features the engine with a ram’s head.

Stellantis

But Kuniskis said market share is only one metric and that plant utilization and profits are also important. While Ram’s overall sales are down, he said retail sales — a closely watched metric — are expected to be up by about 28% through the first half of the year.

“You don’t want to chase share just for the sake of chasing share,” he said. “I want to have all plants running at full capacity to maximize my efficiency.”

‘Last Tenth LFG’

Kuniskis wears a black band on his left wrist with white lettering that reads “Last Tenth LFG.”

The first part has been a mantra of Kuniskis’ for years to push his top lieutenants to perform as best as they can. The latter part is an acronym with many meanings, including “let’s freaking go.”

“When you were in school, they told you ‘Get an ‘A,’ everything will be great. You’ll be successful in life.’ Not true. Not true,” Kuniskis said. “They remember the guy that way pushed beyond just getting an ‘A’ in school and did something different, push that last tenth.”

Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis handed out “Last Tenth LFG” bracelets to his team and dealers as a symbolic gesture of the brand’s turnaround.

Stellantis

Kuniskis handed out the wristbands to his team as well as the brand’s dealers during his return to an annual dealer conference in January as a way to regain the trust of retailers after years of contentious relations over incentives, products and price increases.

So far it seems to be working, according to Michael Bettenhausen, a dealer in Illinois who chairs the Stellantis National Dealer Council.

“Everything that Tim has showed us has us convinced that the brand is on a path to get back to the volumes that we’ve seen from years past,” Bettenhausen said. “We’re really excited that Tim is leading this charge. It’s really remarkable.”

Bettenhausen also said the full-size pickup truck market is key to the success of the company and its dealers. It is made up of buyers who often have generational loyalties to a brand and act as ambassadors for it.

“Customer loyalty is a huge part of that business,” Yoon said. “For a lot of these people, it doesn’t matter if their brand is objectively the best product or not. It’s just that whatever the automaker is doing, they feel like it’s best for them.”

Ram 1500 extended range hybrid pickup, set to come to market in early 2026, will have the longest driving range the company has ever offered in a light-duty truck, up to 690 total miles between its gas engine and battery power.

Ram | Stellantis

Bringing back the automaker’s well-known Hemi V-8 may have been a good start, as Kuniskis said the company received 12,000 Hemi orders on the first day pickup trucks with the engine were available for dealers to order.

As the Hemi returns, Ram’s electrification plans, including a new plug-in truck and an all-electric model, are being delayed. Kuniskis declined to discuss production timing for the all-electric model, which was initially expected last year. He said the plug-in model — known as an extended-range electric vehicle, or EREV — will begin production this year but declined to specify when consumer sales will begin.

Kuniskis said he believes the EREV will be more of a differentiator in the market and more important in the brand’s turnaround plan through 2026.

“I’m really bullish on the year. I’m really proud of how we started this year and that’s just using traditional tactics,” Kuniskis said. “We haven’t gotten to the new stuff yet.”

The post Inside Stellantis’ plan to revive its Ram Trucks brand after declines appeared first on Our Story Insight.