Honda CR-V Takes Advantage Of Ford F-150, Toyota RAV4 Misadventures To Become Your 2026 Sales Champion

Good morning! It's Thursday, July 2, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, the Honda CR-V has overtaken the likes of the Ford F-150 and Toyota RAV4 to become the best-selling light-duty vehicle in America through the first half of 2026, Nissan's CEO wants the automaker to shake its rental car reputation, Stellantis saw a 6% sales gain in Q2 despite the mess its in and over three-quarters of a million Fords and Lincolns are being impacted by two separate recalls.

Oh, and if you want a recap of the latest auto news delivered to your inbox each weekday morning because life is busy and you can't always head to our website, you can sign up for Jalopnik's free The Morning Shift newsletter right here.

For years now, the U.S. sales crown has pretty much been a two-horse race between the Toyota RAV4 and the Ford F-150, but inventory shortfalls for both vehicles mean a newcomer has taken the lead in the first half of 2026: the Honda CR-V. Bow down before your new king, for they are your leader with a strong 19% surge in May sales and an even mightier 30% jump in June.

That brings its total 2026 sales to 226,114 units thus far. That beats year-to-date estimates of 209,311 for the F-150 and 194,807 for the Chevy Silverado 1500, according to GlobalData. The supply chain struggles the RAV4 has faced mean it placed in a distant fourth, coming in with 153,955 sales. It's a shocking turn of events, I know. From Automotive News:

The F-150 has been the industry's best seller in 15 of the past 16 years, but aluminum supply issues have constrained output since the fall. At the same time, a disruptive model changeover for the RAV4 has put Honda in the driver's seat of the vast compact crossover segment.

Beyond its rivals' inventory troubles, Honda has executed a well-calibrated market strategy to boost the CR-V's popularity.

[...]

Honda delivered steadier incentive support in 2026 after tariffs and production swings led to volatility last year. Incentives on the CR-V are averaging about $460 more than in 2025.

CR-Vs sold for an average of $1,302 less than sticker price in the second quarter, according to Edmunds, versus a $329 discount for the Toyota RAV4.

[...]

Despite strong demand, CR-V inventory has tightened to just 15 days' worth. Honda is running its CR-V plants at full capacity and studying production-mix changes to favor hybrids. The automaker produced 222,478 CR-Vs in the first five months, less than 1 percent more than the same period a year ago, according to data from AutoForecast Solutions.

This all comes as the Toyota deal's with the RAV4's model year changeover, which has snarled production and, in turn, sales.

In the first half of 2026, RAV4 sales tumbled 36 percent to 153,955 as Toyota transitioned to the crossover's sixth generation. Staggered changeovers at plants in Japan and North America created months of constrained supplies, even as hybrid-focused production ramps up in Georgetown, Ky.

RAV4 production plunged about 86,400 in January through May from a year earlier, according to AutoForecast Solutions.

The RAV4 is the only vehicle since 2009 to outsell the F-150 in a full calendar year, grabbing the crown in 2024 before falling back to second. Ford does not disclose F-150 sales separately, and the F-Series remains the most popular nameplate when including heavy-duty models.

The RAV4 is the only vehicle since 2009 to outsell the F-150 in a full calendar year, grabbing the crown in 2024 before falling back to second. Ford does not disclose F-150 sales separately, and the F-Series remains the most popular nameplate when including heavy-duty models.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to CR-V sales (and its place in the market hierarchy) once RAV4 and F-150 production reach their full potential once again. I've got a feeling that order will be restored, but who really knows. If it were my money, I think I'd probably head on down to a Honda dealer. Picking between a CR-V and RAV4 is sort of like splitting hairs, but the CR-V is a slightly nicer hair.

Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa is acutely aware that his automaker has a long way to go before he can say its turnaround is completed, and that's despite the fact it just posted that its second-quarter U.S. sales were up. He knows the company needs to shed the imagine it has built for itself over the past decade-plus — an image of bargain basement products and rental car lots. It's going to be a tall task to undo much of what has been done in the name of chasing higher market share at all costs. From Reuters:

Aggressive selling to rental-car companies also a sales-boosting tactic – cheapened the brand's image, Espinosa said.

"Before, it was like, okay, we want volume, volume, volume. This is not a good way of ​operating a car company," he said, adding that he'd like to largely "stay away" from the rental market.

[...]

Espinosa, who took the top job at the Japanese automaker in April 2025, has made the U.S. a core piece of his revival strategy. Nissan's U.S. market share hovers just ​above 6%, down from around 9% a decade ago.

[He] has been candid ​in his view that Nissan lost its way in the U.S. It was pushing ⁠too hard to grow sales, which led to quality and image problems, the CEO told Reuters in an ​interview Wednesday.

[...]

Today, the CEO says he's after healthy sales growth. Nissan is touting its vehicle quality, including a recent strong ‌showing ⁠in a closely watched JD Power survey of new vehicle owners. Espinosa said a forthcoming influx of new models also will help his quest for a U.S. rebound.

Nissan's U.S. strategy is part of a widespread revival plan that — unfortunately — includes cutting Nissan's global manufacturing footprint and workforce by 15% in an effort to cut costs. The Japanese automaker is also still on the hunt for partnerships after scrapping a planned merger with Honda in 2025.

If you asked a normal person what car companies aren't doing too hot right now, you'd probably expect them to say Stellantis, but they'd be wrong, because they're idiots, traitors and NOT patriots. In actuality, Stellantis' U.S. sales rose 6% in the second quarter of 2026 — marking the once-struggling company's fourth consecutive quarterly gain.

It can thank Ram for a lot of that, since its sales increased 14% to 109,166 units in Q2. Ram 1500 sales jumped 27%. At the same time, Pacifica sales increased 81% to 41,704 vehicles — the highest quarterly sales tally for the best van on the market (IMHO) since Q3 of 2023. From Automotive News:

Sales of Jeep's three-row large SUVs were up 57 in the second quarter, even amid elevated gasoline prices. Stellantis mixed in sales of the Grand Wagoneer with the Wagoneer, which was dropped after the 2025 model year and is being sold down.

The gasoline-powered Dodge Charger Sixpack was up 404 percent in the second quarter to 2,911.

At the brand level, Jeep was down 5 percent in the second quarter; Ram was up 11 percent; Chrysler was up 80 percent; Dodge was down 15 percent; Fiat was down 79 percent; and Alfa Romeo fell 32 percent.

Overall sales were up 5 percent through June.

"We delivered incremental market share gains over the first half of 2025, fueled by second-quarter year-over-year increases in retail sales of Jeep Grand Wagoneer, up 43 percent; Ram 1500, up 9 percent; Dodge Durango, up 9 percent and Chrysler Pacifica, up 7 percent," Michael Orange, the automaker's head of U.S. retail sales and network performance, said in a statement.

[...]

The redesigned Jeep Cherokee hybrid rolled out in late 2025, and sales tallied 8,101 in the second quarter.

The freshened 2027 Pacifica is in stores now as well.

Stellantis will bolster its lineup in the coming months with the revived Ram 1500 SRT TRX, which is shipping to stores now, a lineup of 1500 Rumble Bee muscle trucks, the electric Jeep Recon and the next-generation Ram ProMaster City small van.

It wasn't all good news, though. Jeep Wrangler sales were down 12% in the second quarter, and Gladiator sales dropped 33%. Grand Cherokee sales dipped 6%, and the Dodge Durango, its mechanical sibling, was down 12%. 

Still, things are apparently going pretty okay over in Stellantisland.

Oh, Ford. I love you so much, and that's why it hurts me to tell you all that the Blue Oval is recalling just about 780,000 vehicles in two separate recalls, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The largest of which, covering 741,195 2018-21 ⁠Lincoln Navigators and Ford Expeditions, 2020-21 Explorers, 2020-21 Aviators and 2021 Ford F-150s, has to do with the cars rolling away even when they're shifted into park. From the Detroit Free Press:

Those vehicles, Ford said in a filing with NHTSA, may experience a transmission defect that could lead to a malfunction, preventing the vehicles from staying engaged in the park gear after the driver has shifted. The recall came after more than 200 reports, as of May 2026, from vehicle owners to Ford and NHTSA, stating their vehicles moved after shifting to park, were unable to shift into park or got stuck in the park gear.

Ford said that drivers should always engage their emergency brake when parking until their vehicles have been fixed. Drivers can bring their vehicles to Ford dealerships, which will replace damaged transmission parts free of charge, Ford said.

The other recall comes 36,046 2022-26 Broncos with fender flares that may rip off when driving down the road. Goodie.

Drivers of those Broncos should be aware that rattling, clicking or flapping noises at high speeds may indicate that the fender may soon detach. The fenders of some Broncos were designed to be detachable, Ford said, but may not have been fully secured during production.

Like the transmission issue, owners can bring the vehicle back to the dealer for a fix free of charge.

These represent Ford's 52nd and 53rd recalls of 2026, which have so far impacted 12,017,708 vehicles. Keep in mind, we've just now reached the halfway mark of 2026. There's still plenty of time left to get these numbers way up.

History.com

This feels incredibly appropriate today since it's from a movie about Philly sports. I mean, the 76ers were just able to move off of Paul George's contract and get Jaylen Brown, and all it took was a few extra picks. As a Celtics hater, this has filled me with so much happiness and made the fact that my dear, dear Mitchell Robinson betrayed me. Anyway, enjoy this, Philly fans. You're still going to lose in the second round, but enjoy this anyway. If you wanna learn more about "Gonna Fly Now" and the movie, head over to History.com.

Gas prices are down ever-so-slightly from yesterday as JD Vance says meetings between the U.S. and Iran in Doha are "going well," but we're staring down a three-day weekend for the stock market, thanks to Independence Day. So, let's just say that I wouldn't be too surprised if some fighting picked up again. Still, WTI Crude Oil futures and Brent Crude are trending down, with prices sitting at $tk and $tk, at the time of publication.

Here's where national average prices stand right now, according to AAA:

AAA

This all shakes out to the average price of a gallon of regular gas dropping another cent overnight to $3.84, according to AAA. We're now down 72 cents from the 2026 record that was set back on May 21, when gas hit $4.56 per gallon.

Yeah, so I know the title of this song is, uh, dumb, but dammit. I cannot stop listening to " u + me = ᐸ3." It has become the ultimate earworm for me over the past week or so as I've spent time in both the south of France and South Carolina — two incredibly warm places, might I add.