Honda Just Had Its Best October Sales Month In Six Years

SUVs and hybrid models drove sales higher in October, with the CR-V setting a new monthly record.

Photo by: Honda

By: Adrian Padeanu

Nov 4, at 4:25am ET

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Americans are still buying plenty of new cars, provided they're SUVs or hybrids. Honda's latest sales figures prove it, reporting its best October in six years as demand for light trucks and electrified models continued to grow.

Honda sold 119,952 vehicles last month, an eight percent increase compared to October 2025. That's the company's strongest October performance since 2020. The Honda brand accounted for 109,162 deliveries, up 9.1 percent, while Acura moved 10,790 vehicles, a 2.5 percent decline.

The biggest winners were light trucks, which in Honda's terminology include SUVs, crossovers, minivans, and pickups. Sales in this category reached 83,559 units, up 9.6 percent and setting a new October record. Passenger car sales also improved, climbing 4.5 percent to 36,393 units.

2026 Honda CR-V Trailsport

Photo by: Honda

The CR-V Is Selling Like Hotcakes

Unsurprisingly, the CR-V was the company's best-selling model, with 34,815 deliveries in October. That's a 9.8 percent year-over-year increase and a new October record for the popular SUV. Predictably, hybrid versions accounted for 53 percent of the sales mix, with 18,534 units setting another monthly record.

Honda also recorded its best October ever for hybrid sales across the lineup, moving 32,519 vehicles. That's a 5.1 percent improvement over the same month last year. The Civic Hybrid accounted for 36 percent of the model's total sales, while hybrid versions of the Accord represented 45 percent of the midsize sedan's sales mix.

The HR-V also had a strong month, setting an October record with 12,353 deliveries, up 11 percent. Other notable performers included the Passport, which reached a record 5,419 units (+14.9 percent), and the Odyssey minivan, which jumped 32.2 percent to 7,202 vehicles. Even the aging Ridgeline pickup posted a healthy 7.9 percent increase, with 4,410 units sold, ahead of a next-generation model expected later this decade.

Honda's passenger cars weren't left out of the celebration. The Accord recorded its best October since 2020, with sales increasing 10.6 percent. The Civic reached 17,960 units, while the Prelude sports coupe posted its second consecutive month with more than 400 deliveries.

2026 Acura Integra

Photo by: Acura

Acura Was Down In October, But It's Still Up YoY

Honda's luxury division had a more mixed October, selling 10,790 vehicles, down 2.5 percent year over year. However, Acura remains up 3.7 percent through the first ten months of 2026, with 114,458 vehicles sold.

The MDX was the standout performer, with 5,232 deliveries, a substantial 54.3 percent increase from October 2025. The flagship SUV is already comfortably ahead of its entire 2025 sales tally. The smaller ADX crossover also had a solid month, moving 2,508 units.

Meanwhile, the Integra continued to build momentum, with October sales increasing 11.5 percent. Together, the ADX and Integra accounted for 4,604 deliveries, helping Acura's entry-level models achieve 61 percent year-to-date growth.

Together, Honda and Acura have now sold 1,269,213 vehicles in 2026, up five percent from the same period last year. With SUVs doing the heavy lifting and hybrids becoming an increasingly important part of the lineup, the Japanese automaker has plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading into the final stretch of the year.

The takeaway is clear: Americans haven't fallen out of love with traditional cars, but convincing them to buy one is getting harder. Even Honda, a company with a long history of successful sedans, is getting much of its momentum from SUVs and electrified powertrains.

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Honda Will Sell A Body-On-Frame Truck, But Likely Not In The US

Honda is also preparing to expand its lineup with a proper body-on-frame pickup in 2028, although American buyers probably shouldn't get their hopes up. Based on a Mitsubishi, the new truck will be a rebadged Triton (also sold as the L200) and will primarily target Southeast Asian markets. It gives Honda a relatively inexpensive way to enter a segment where it currently has no offering outside North America, while Mitsubishi can boost production at its Thai factory.

Unfortunately, the pickup is unlikely to reach the United States, as importing a Thai-built truck would expose it to hefty tariffs, including the 25 percent Chicken Tax. That leaves the next-generation Ridgeline as Honda's only pickup prospect for American customers.