Here’s what the dealers sold in the state in 2024. It may surprise you

By Gary S. Vasilash

If someone asked what the best-selling automotive brand was in California in 2024, odds are “Tesla” would leap to mind as the leader.

Close, but no whatever the alternative to a cigar is.

Tesla, which has 3.9% of the total U.S. market, with 11.6% in California, is in second place.

Toyota is the top seller in California according to the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA).

In 2024 it had 16.4% of the California market. 12.8% in the U.S.

Coming in third in the Golden State is Honda, with 10.9% of the market. Nationally it is at 8.1%.

So far as California numbers go, after third place the rest of the brands have single-digit (not including the bit to the right of the decimal) shares of the market:

• Ford 7.4%
• Chevy 6.2%
• Kia 4.8%
• Hyundai 4.5%
• Nissan 3.9%
• Mercedes 3.9%
• BMW 3.7%
• Lexus 3.6%
• Subaru 3.4%
• Mazda 2.3%
• GMC 2.1%
• Audi 1.9%

Although some have chastised Toyota for its limited EV offering, odds are Toyota dealers are happy with the approach.

Note how Toyota has a 4.8% advantage over Tesla. Tesla has just a 0.7% advantage over Honda.

You may note what’s missing from the top 15 brands: any Stellantis brand.

They didn’t do particularly well in the California market in 2024.

Compared to 2023 new car registrations in the state:

• Ram -21.5%
• Jeep -28.6%
• Chrysler -32.1%

The good news is that apparently people like muscle cars in California because Dodge registrations were up 6.9%. (What’s interesting is that on the list of those in the positive territory, Toyota’s increase was just 4.4%, which indicates that having 16% of the total market is probably about as good as you can get.)

What is notable is how Ford and Chevy play so very well on the national level.

While Ford, as mentioned, has 7.4% of the California market, it has 11.8% of the U.S. market.

And Chevy, with 6.2% in California, is at 10.9% nationally.

While it probably has a lot to do with pickups, Californias do buy a number of those, too: 37,655 Chevy Silverados and 36,546 F-Series trucks were registered in 2024.

Here’s something to consider:

According to the CNCDA:

“New light vehicle registrations in California declined a slim 0.3 percent from 2023 to 2024. The U.S. market improved by 3.4 percent last year.

“All of the decrease in the state market last year was attributable to Tesla, which had an 11.6 percent decline. Registrations for all other brands increased 1.4 percent.”

If Musk didn’t seem to be so occupied elsewhere you might think he be thinking long and hard about that non-trivial decline in California.

California has some 1.1-million EVs registered. If you take the next four states with high levels of EV registrations—Florida, Texas, Washington, and Arizona—combined they have 520,000 EVs rolling around.

One part of the decline for Tesla in California could be saturation and aging models. Another could be politics, but if that’s an issue, it will really come to the fore in the results for 2025.

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