If you’ve been seeing more Honda Passports in your travels over the past year, that’s not a coincidence. And if they’ve specifically been of the TrailSport variety, that’s also for good reason. Not only did 2025 mark a record year for Passport sales, but the TrailSport trim comprised 80% of the take rate.
It’s a sign that Honda’s off-road pivot is paying off with a warm reception in the market. The Passport sits between the CR-V and Pilot in terms of length and cargo volume, but it also chases a different kind of buyer—the kind likeliest to cross-shop one of Honda’s SUVs against a Toyota 4Runner or Ford Bronco. Last year, Honda shifted 55,231 Passports, representing a 70% improvement over 2024’s figure of 32,527 units.
That kind of performance isn’t just good for Honda’s bottom line in the moment—it highlights a viable room for the brand to grow, an untapped and unsaturated market that’s responding. Sure, 55,000 vehicles is but a fraction of the CR-V’s mammoth volume; the CR-V has sold more than seven times that in each of the last two years! But it’s also stagnating, and it’s a testament to the CR-V’s ubiquity that its gains are bound to be marginal at this point.
The Passport, conversely, hasn’t hit its ceiling yet. And as for the Pilot, it actually slid last year by 12%, to 124,209 vehicles.
Honda will no doubt look to continue this momentum and, in the words of Honda America President and CEO Kazuhiro Takizawa, “expand the TrailSport trim furthermore.” The company built an even meaner Passport HRC concept for SEMA last year with an integrated winch, more aggressive lift, and extended skidplates. It also created a much more extreme one-off of the Pilot TrailSport specifically for staff to sample some off-roading. Because if Honda really intends to chase Jeep buyers, its employees should probably know what Jeep buyers look for.
Did you buy a Passport in the past year? Have you done the Passport wave? Let us know at tips@thedrive.com