Stellantis Prices Rose 9.2% and Ford 6.5% in a Year While GM Slipped

• Stellantis buyers paid an average $59,947 in October, up 9.2% on a year earlier, and Ford Motor Company buyers paid $62,326, up 6.5%.
• Mercedes-Benz fell 8.0% to $71,086 and General Motors slipped 1.0% to $55,886, while the industry average rose 2.1% to a record $51,109.
• Those prices leave out incentives, taxes and fees, so ask for the out-the-door figure and the rebates on the exact vehicle before you sign.

Which Automakers Charge You More Than a Year Ago

The average new vehicle sold for $51,109 in October, a record in Kelley Blue Book’s data and 2.1% above the $50,055 of October 2025. That one number hides a wide spread. Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive brand, publishes a table for 15 manufacturers next to the headline average, and 12 of them charged more than a year earlier while 3 charged less.

Stellantis rose the most of the 15 makers. Its October average transaction price reached $59,947, up from $54,878 in October 2025, a gain of $5,069 or 9.2%. That is more than four times the industry rate of 2.1%, and it puts the typical Stellantis transaction $8,838 above the industry average. Ford Motor Company came next at $62,326, up $3,778 or 6.5% on its $58,548 of a year ago.

Three makers went the other way. General Motors averaged $55,886, which is $555 or 1.0% below the $56,441 of October 2025. Mercedes-Benz Group fell the furthest, from $77,279 to $71,086, a drop of $6,193 or 8.0%. Tata Motors edged down by 0.7% to $102,005.

The rest of the table sits between those extremes. Mazda rose 5.2% to $37,082, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance rose 4.7% to $39,144, Subaru rose 3.6% to $37,429 and Toyota Motor Corporation rose 3.6% to $47,118, a gain of $1,641 over October 2025. Hyundai Motor Group rose 3.2% to $39,865, BMW rose 0.3% to $71,102, and Honda Motor Company and Volkswagen Group each rose 0.6%, to $39,288 and $58,485.

Stellantis and Ford Climb While Chevrolet and GMC Slip

The maker table shows a gap of 10.2 percentage points between Stellantis and General Motors. A Stellantis buyer paid 9.2% more than a year earlier, a Ford Motor buyer paid 6.5% more and a General Motors buyer paid 1.0% less. The brand rows show where those group averages come from.

Stellantis lists Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram among its brands, and all four rows moved up. Dodge averaged $53,475, up 8.8% from $49,131, a gain of $4,344. Jeep averaged $53,592, up 7.2% from $50,006, or $3,586 more. Ram averaged $69,850, up 6.5% from $65,611, a gain of $4,239, and Chrysler averaged $49,959, up 3.9%. Dodge also slipped 1.4% from September, so the year-over-year jump came with a monthly dip.

The Ford brand averaged $61,565, up 6.2% from $57,980, or $3,585 more, and it rose 2.7% from September. Chevrolet and GMC went the opposite way. Chevrolet averaged $51,058, which is $187 or 0.4% less than the $51,245 of October 2025. GMC averaged $65,607, down 2.3% from $67,149, a drop of $1,542. Cadillac stood apart: $90,101, up 6.6% on the year and up $5,406, or 6.4%, in one month from $84,695 in September.

The brand row is the better guide for a shopping list than the maker row. A maker average blends every brand it sells, and the gap between Chevrolet at $51,058 and Cadillac at $90,101 is $39,043.

Brands Up and Down: Lincoln, Kia and Dodge Climb While Mercedes and Audi Fall

Lincoln posted the biggest brand gain in the table. Its average reached $78,132, up 11.3% from $70,207, which is $7,925 more than a year earlier. Dodge followed at 8.8%, Kia at 7.8% and Jeep at 7.2%. Kia is the notable one for mainstream shoppers: its $39,260 average is up $2,841 from $36,419 in October 2025.

Several other brands rose faster than the 2.1% industry rate. Infiniti rose 6.3% to $69,865. Volkswagen rose 5.4% to $40,185, and that brand also jumped 4.4% in a single month, from $38,476 in September. Nissan rose 5.0% to $37,578, Volvo rose 4.5% to $61,588 and Toyota rose 3.4% to $44,168.

A few brands finished close to flat. Hyundai averaged $38,320, up just $49 or 0.1% from $38,271. Honda averaged $38,198, up $312 or 0.8% from $37,886. Genesis slipped $10 to $64,316. Porsche, at $125,270 the highest of the 31 brands listed, slipped 0.9%.

Several luxury brands fell. Mercedes-Benz averaged $71,086, which is $6,193 below its $77,279 of a year ago. Audi dropped 2.4% to $64,403, a fall of $1,586. Land Rover slipped 1.9% to $102,826. The table does not say why a brand’s average moved, and Cox Automotive points to a mix effect behind averages in general. Erin Keating of Cox Automotive said:

“The average is telling us as much about product mix as it is about affordability. Three of the five highest-volume segments transacted significantly below the industry’s average, while vehicles priced from roughly $28,000 to $38,000 collectively gained 9.6% in volume year over year. Consumers are still buying plenty of vehicles well below the headline average transaction price, even as strong demand for full-size pickups and other larger, luxury, well-equipped vehicles keeps pushing the average to new highs.”

The maker table needs that reading. A brand average rises when buyers pick pricier trims or bigger vehicles and when the sticker goes up, and the data tables do not separate the two. The segment rows show the spread of what is on the lot: a compact car at $28,030, a compact SUV at $37,895, a midsize SUV at $50,570, a full-size pickup at $67,912 and a full-size SUV at $80,957. A maker that sells more of the bottom rows pulls its average down, and a maker that sells more of the top rows pulls it up.

What the Average Price Leaves Out

Every figure above is an average transaction price before incentives. Kelley Blue Book states that the numbers do not include applied consumer incentives, and the October report adds that they are measured before taxes and fees too. What a buyer actually pays can sit well below or above the line in the table.

Incentives averaged 6.8% of the transaction price in October, which works out to about $3,490 a vehicle. That is up from 6.7% in September, about $130 more, and up from 6.5% a year earlier, about $252 more. Kelley Blue Book notes that incentive spending remains below long-term averages. The sticker side moved too: the average manufacturer’s suggested retail price reached $52,933, up 2.4% on October 2025 against a normal annual increase of 3.3%.

Apply the industry incentive to the biggest climbers and the arithmetic looks like this. A Stellantis average of $59,947 less $3,490 comes to $56,457. A Ford Motor average of $62,326 less $3,490 comes to $58,836. A General Motors average of $55,886 less $3,490 comes to $52,396. The report gives one industry-wide incentive average, so the rebate on a particular Jeep, Ford or Chevrolet can be higher or lower, and the dealer’s written quote is the number that counts.

What to Do Before You Sign

Compare the model you want with its brand row. If Kia’s October average is $39,260 and your trim lists well above it, your pick sits above what the typical Kia buyer paid, which is worth knowing before you negotiate. The tables do not show whether Audi and Mercedes-Benz buyers got better deals or bought cheaper trims, so judge your own quote on its figures.

Ask every dealer for the out-the-door price in writing: vehicle price, rebates, taxes, registration and each fee on one sheet. The table figures exclude all of those, so the sheet is the only way to compare two quotes on equal terms. California shoppers can read how California’s new auto dealer law protects buyers at the dealership.

Check which incentives apply to the exact vehicle and trim before you accept a price. Ask the dealer which rebates apply to the exact vehicle and trim, and compare that figure with the $3,490 industry average.

Price the loan along with the car. A higher price raises the amount borrowed, and the cost of the financing adds to it, so typical car loan interest is worth checking before you agree to a monthly payment.

Shoppers who decide the new-car numbers are too high can look at the used market, and a short guide to checking a used car before you pay lists the steps.

Finally, shop across makers. The October table shows Honda up 0.8% and Hyundai up 0.1% while Kia rose 7.8% and Dodge 8.8%. Two similar vehicles can sit on very different price curves, and the year-over-year column shows which maker raised its average fastest.

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Sources

• Kelley Blue Book: Report Average New-Vehicle Prices Top $51,000, Reach Record High in October
• Cox Automotive: Data Tables for October 2026 Kelley Blue Book Average Transaction Prices Report
• Stellantis: Our Brands

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar