A new report from Cox Automotive did its best to cast average vehicle transactions in a bad light, but it’s hard to see the scary part if you are a family vehicle shopper. In fact, the largest segment in America overall, compact crossover SUVs, saw a year-over-year ATP drop (not rise) of 0.2%. In addition, many mainstream vehicle brands such as Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Hyundai, and Volkswagen all saw measurable vehicle price decreases in April. Even Mitsubishi, which imports virtually every vehicle it sells in America, saw a price drop of 1.1%. On the luxury side of things, many brands were up, but not Jaguar, which saw a huge drop in prices of 11.1%.
Electric vehicles bucked the trend. EVs rose in average transaction price significantly. The report says, “The Kelley Blue Book team initially estimates new EV prices in April to be $59,255, higher year over year by 3.7% and higher than March by 0.2%.” The report also points out that, although EV sales overall are up in 2025, in April, they dropped by 6% compared to March. As we have previously reported, brands that report monthly EV deliveries almost uniformly reported a decline in April.
For the first few full months of the new Trump administration, average vehicle transaction prices have not changed in any dramatic way, despite doom-and-gloom media reports. By contrast, the Biden administration saw massive average vehicle transaction price increases during the first two years of President Biden’s term, as we have previously reported.
Watch for the mainstream news media to spin these facts to show some sort of drama, but you can view the average translation prices for each brand and every individual vehicle category here yourself if you like to make up your own mind after reviewing the facts.
John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools.
Image of Hyundai dealership by John Goreham.
John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools.
