With 2025 behind us, the U.S. luxury car market is taking stock, and the contrast between brands is sharper than usual. BMW is celebrating another record year with 388,897 units in 2025, benefiting from strong local production at its Spartanburg facility in South Carolina and a growing shift toward plug-in hybrids, which rose more than 30 percent even as its full battery electric sales cooled.
Audi, meanwhile, is resetting its U.S. business for what comes next. Audi of America delivered 164,942 vehicles in 2025, a 16 percent decline from the prior year. The fourth quarter was the toughest, with sales down 36 percent to 36,233 units.
Audi’s situation is different, and much of its decline reflects factors like timing, tariffs, and model changeovers rather than a loss of relevance. With a lineup that relies on imports, Audi, like other luxury brands, felt U.S. trade pressures more directly in 2025. At the same time, several core products were either winding down or awaiting replacements.
Having said that, Audi continued to make strides in areas like safety and tech. The German brand earned more 2025 IIHS Top Safety Pick+ awards than any other luxury manufacturer; as seen on versions of the Q5 and Q5 Sportback built after July 2025, along with the A5, A6 Sportback e tron, Q7, Q6 e tron, and Q6 Sportback e tron.
SUVs continued to anchor Audi’s U.S. presence. The mid-size Q5 led sales with 46,215 deliveries for the year, followed by the smaller Q3 at 23,581 and the larger Q7 at 18,381. On the EV side, sales of the Q6 e-tron surged from 966 units in 2024 to 17,207 in 2025 as availability improved.
In contrast, older EV models such as the Q4 e-tron and e-tron GT sedan declined sharply. Clearly, demand is shifting toward newer platforms and more flexible electrified options, a trend BMW also saw as plug-in hybrids gained traction.
Certified pre-owned sales edged higher in the fourth quarter, suggesting many drivers stayed within the brand while waiting for refreshed models. 2025 was a year of recalibration for the Ingolstadt-based automaker, but for Audi to gain more ground in the United States, it will need to consider manufacturing stateside, like BMW and, more recently, Volvo, which has made some pretty substantial investments towards manufacturing in U.S. at its Ridgeville site, also in South Carolina.
Images: Audi
