Why Toyota’s Tacoma Is Outselling All Lexus EVs Combined

The Toyota Tacoma is on a hot sales streak so far this year, nearly doubling 2024 numbers in a year that’s overall, not great for carmakers.

It helps that they’ve dropped specialty models, like the Trailhunter, that stoke the Taco’s legendary following. A ferocious Tacoma marketplace is also a barometer of the economy: Tacomas hold their value. Buyers get conservative when the economic picture looks meh.

Buy crypto, or buy a Tacoma? There’s no contest. But you might argue that buying a Lexus hybrid vs. buying a Tacoma is, likewise, not a fair fight. (In case this is news, Lexus is Toyota’s upscale car brand). Why is the Tacoma going gangbusters? Why aren’t Lexus hybrids? And also, which Toyota hybrids are selling well? Let’s look at the numbers.

Base Trim Engine

I-FORCE 2.4L ICE

Base Trim Transmission

8-speed automatic

Base Trim Drivetrain

Four-Wheel Drive

Base Trim Horsepower

228 HP @6000 RPM

Base Trim Torque

243 lb.-ft. @ 1600 RPM

One Truck, Massive Numbers

Toyota’s 2025 Tacoma sales (through June) are indeed very impressive, up 88 percent vs. their pace halfway through last year. Here’s how they stack up.

2024 vs. 2025 Tacoma Sales

One reason for the giant gains for the Tacoma this year is that the truck is an all-new, 4th generation that debuted this past year. But you couldn’t get all trims—ranging from a $33,790 SR all the way up to a $64,435 TRD Pro—until the start of 2025. Toyota has a massive range of 11 trims now—and it’s likely that the sales surge is meeting some of that pent-up demand. Since 2018, Toyota has averaged roughly 250,000 sales per year. Sales likely dropped in 2024 since buyers knew a new Tacoma was coming, and the model-changeover surely led to the fall in 2024 purchases. Toyota is now on pace to hit nearly 300,000 sales. But the trims that are selling (and not selling) say something else about Tacoma buyers—and how much they’re willing to pay.

Lexus Electrified Lineup Falls Far Behind

Earlier this year, Toyota launched three all-new EVs for 2026. These range from a true off-roader in the bZ Woodland to a sporty four-door in the C-HR. And Lexus? Um? We’re still waiting. Lexus’s “electrified” lineup, like Toyota’s, includes plug-ins, non-plug-in-hybrids, and BEVs.

Lexus Electrified Vehicle Sales Through June, 2025

Lexus is actually ahead of their electrified sales through this time last year, by 12.8 percent.

But they’re still being dwarfed by the Tacoma sales, which are roughly double every Lexus hybrid/BEV/PHEV. Another way to look at the picture: Total Toyota-branded EVs, hybrids and PHEVs hit 541,709 through July 1 of this year. That’s a lot. It’s a nearly 40 percent increase vs. their EV, PHEV, and hybrid sales for 2024. And it means Toyota sells eight electrified cars for every Lexus that sells in that format.

Trucks Still Rule the U.S. Market

The Tacoma is a perennial best-selling vehicle in its segment. The next-closest seller is the Chevy Colorado, but “close” is the incorrect term—since Chevy sells about one Colorado for every three Tacoma sales. Ford, which has had a whopping year so far with the Ranger, and more than doubled sales vs. last year—still only sold 32,977 of those trucks. Then again, the mid-sized truck segment, not even including Ford’s hot-selling Maverick, accounted for just under 300,000 vehicles through June. The fact that the Tacoma, all by itself, accounts for about half that total speaks volumes about how that single vehicle dominates not just Lexus, but an entire segment.

What This Says About Toyota’s Strategy

There’s another way to slice this onion. Toyota’s RAV4 and RAV4 hybrid and PHEV numbers still dwarf its Tacoma numbers. Here’s how those stack up.

Combined RAV4/EV/PHEV vs. Tacoma Sales

This tells you two things:

• The RAV4 is an absolute sales juggernaut. This actually a down year for RAV4 sales!
• More people want crossovers than trucks, and there’s probably only so much room for Toyota to grow the mid-size truck market.

But it also says something about Lexus’s strategy, where the carmaker has been ultra conservative. Lexus RX sales, for instance, lead its midsize luxury crossover segment, even in a down year, and RX PHEV sales have doubled—but that’s still just 3,449 cars.

The other shoe we’re guessing drops soon, will be more Lexus EVs that are a considerable step up from the RZ—a clear failure by Lexus standards.

Why Isn’t Toyota Selling More Hybrid Tacomas?

Just about 10 percent of Toyota’s Tacoma sales are hybrids. Compare that to the hybrid Camry, where every single car is a hybrid. Yes, but that’s because that’s the only way you can buy a Camry. The reason Tacoma hybrid sales are weak isn’t because there’s a fault with that powertrain. It’s the spiciest-output Taco you can get, but that i-Force Max engine can only be paired with a Double Cab and a five-foot bed. If you want the longer, six-foot bed, you have to spend $63,135 on the Trailhunter model. And the cheapest i-Force Max Tacoma will run you $46,720 for the TRD Sport.

What that tells you is that the huge volume of Tacoma sales is coming in the lower, $31-$42,000 rung. It helps that there are five specs to choose from, out of the 11 total. But Toyota could sell a lot more hybrid Tacomas if they wanted to. Does this matter? Toyota has sold a whopping 609,614 electrified vehicles this year so far, a nearly 40 percent jump in one year. My guess? They’ll focus, incrementally, on overhauling both the Lexus and Toyota lineups. Since that’s just the Toyota way.

But now that Ford’s announced a forthcoming electric pickup, maybe a Toyota one is also on the way?