What are automotive ETFs?
The automotive industry covers companies that design, build and sell cars and trucks. The three products in this guide reach it in very different ways, and no stock is shared among them. TMH, the Toyota Motor Corporation ADRhedged fund from Precidian Investments, puts 96.48% of its assets in one company, Toyota Motor Corp. CARU and CARD, both from BMO Financial Group, hold no stocks at all. They are exchange-traded notes (ETNs): bank debt that promises a return linked to the auto industry index named in their titles.
TMH is not an index fund or a basket of carmakers. It seeks the total return of Toyota's ordinary shares in their local market, before fees. An ADR (American depositary receipt) is a US-traded certificate for a foreign company's shares, and the hedge aims to remove swings in the yen against the dollar. CARU aims for three times the index's moves and CARD for minus three times, so CARD gains when auto stocks fall. These leveraged and inverse notes are built for short-term trading, not long-term holding.
Costs are hard to compare. TMH charges 0.19% a year. It is the only product with a stated expense ratio (the yearly fee taken as a share of assets), so 0.19% is also the median, lowest and highest. No expense ratio is listed for CARU or CARD. An ETN's costs are set out in its own terms.
Very little money is invested, and all of it sits in one fund. With only three products, the five largest hold 100% of the assets. TMH is the only one with reported net assets, and it holds under a million dollars. Funds that small can have wide bid-ask spreads (the gap between the price to get in and the price to get out) and are more likely to close.
How have automotive ETFs performed?
The five largest ordinary funds: growth from the start of the range, distributions reinvested. The dashed gray line is the S&P 500 (SPY).
What drives automotive ETFs?
Carmakers' profits tend to rise and fall with the economy. Cars and trucks are big purchases that households put off when money is tight. Many are paid for with loans, so higher interest rates can cool demand. Steel, aluminum and battery materials are commodities whose prices swing. Tariffs and emissions or safety rules can also change what a car costs to build. TMH feels all of this through one company, Toyota, and its currency hedge aims to strip out exchange-rate moves. CARU aims to triple the moves of its auto industry index, and CARD aims to triple them in reverse.
None of these funds existed during the market drops of 2008, 2020 or 2022, so there is no record of how they held up. The S&P 500 fell 55.2% in the 2008 financial crisis, 33.7% in the 2020 COVID crash and 24.5% in the 2022 bear market (a long, deep slump). Leverage hit hard even without a crash. In the single year to June 26, 2025, CARD fell as much as 73.6% from a peak and CARU as much as 58.9%. Both drops were deeper than the S&P 500's whole slide in 2008.
Do automotive ETFs pay dividends?
1 of the 1 ordinary automotive ETFs with a page here paid distributions over the last 12 months, with a median yield of 13.23%.
How to choose a automotive ETF
- One company or a leveraged index bet. TMH puts 96.48% of its assets in Toyota Motor Corp, so it behaves like owning that one stock. CARU and CARD hold no stocks; they deliver a multiplied return linked to an auto industry index.
- Cost: only one stated expense ratio. TMH charges 0.19% a year, the only expense ratio shown for this group, so there is no lower-cost fund to compare it with. CARU and CARD list no expense ratio; their costs sit in the ETN terms.
- Currency hedging on a foreign carmaker. TMH seeks the total return of Toyota's ordinary shares in their local market, hedging out yen-dollar moves. That cuts currency risk, but it also gives up any gain when the yen strengthens against the dollar.
- Leveraged and inverse notes behave very differently. CARU targets three times an auto index's moves and CARD minus three times. Both usually reset daily, which suits short-term trades. In the year to October 27, 2026, both lost money: CARU 45.5%, CARD 7.3%.
- A fund versus a bank's debt. TMH is a fund that owns shares. CARU and CARD are unsecured notes issued by BMO Financial Group, so their value also depends on BMO's ability to pay, and there are no underlying holdings to fall back on.
- Size and track record are thin. TMH launched on March 13, 2025 and has under a million dollars in net assets. CARU and CARD date from June 27, 2023, with no reported net assets. Tiny products can have wider trading spreads and may close.
What are the risks of automotive ETFs?
- Nearly all in one carmaker. TMH puts 96.48% in Toyota Motor Corp, so one company drives results. In the year to October 27, 2026, its volatility (how widely returns swing) was 25.3% and its worst peak-to-trough fall was 27.5%.
- Triple leverage magnifies every swing. In the year to October 27, 2026, CARU's volatility was 71.4% and its worst fall 54.1%. CARD's figures were 72.3% and 43.6%. After a 54.1% fall, a holding has to more than double just to get back to even.
- Leveraged returns drift over time. Products like these usually reset their leverage daily, so returns over months can stray far from the stated multiple. CARU and CARD are opposite bets, yet both lost money in the year to October 27, 2026: CARU 45.5%, CARD 7.3%.
- ETNs depend on the bank behind them. CARU and CARD are unsecured debt of BMO Financial Group, not funds holding stocks. If BMO ran into trouble, holders could lose money no matter what auto stocks did. ETN terms also often allow early redemption by the issuer.
- Tiny size and a short record. TMH has under a million dollars in net assets and launched on March 13, 2025. It has no record through a downturn such as the 2022 bear market, when the S&P 500 fell 24.5%. Small funds can close.
Leveraged and inverse automotive ETFs (3x)
These funds aim for a multiple, or the opposite, of one day’s return, and reset every day. Held for longer than a day, their results can drift far from that multiple, especially when prices swing. They are trading tools, not long-term holdings. Why leveraged ETFs decay →
List of all automotive ETFs, by size
| # | Fund | Net assets | Cost | Yield | YTD | 1 yr | 5 yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TMH Toyota Motor Corporation ADRhedged | $914K | 0.19% | 13.23% | -4.7% | +0.9% | — |
Questions investors ask about automotive ETFs
What is the largest automotive ETF?
TMH, the Toyota Motor Corporation ADRhedged fund from Precidian Investments, is the only one of the three with reported net assets, and it holds under a million dollars. That makes it very small for an exchange-traded fund. CARU and CARD, the leveraged notes from BMO Financial Group, have no reported net assets. With so little money in the group, trading costs and the risk of a product closing are worth checking.
What is the cheapest automotive ETF?
TMH is the only one with a stated expense ratio: 0.19%. An expense ratio is the yearly fee, taken as a share of assets. Because TMH is the only one, 0.19% is also the median, lowest and highest figure for the group, so there is no lower-cost fund to compare it with. CARU and CARD are exchange-traded notes with no expense ratio listed. Their costs are set out in each note's terms and pricing supplement.
TMH vs CARD: what's the difference?
TMH is a fund that owns one carmaker; CARD is a short-term bet against the auto industry. TMH puts 96.48% of its assets in Toyota Motor Corp and hedges currency, aiming to track Toyota's ordinary shares in their local market. CARD, a BMO Financial Group note, aims for minus three times an auto industry index's moves, so it gains when auto stocks fall. In the year to October 27, 2026, TMH returned 0.9% and CARD lost 7.3%.
Do automotive ETFs pay dividends?
TMH does. Its yield was 13.23% as of October 27, 2026. That is high for a fund holding a single carmaker. A trailing yield (the past year's payouts divided by the price) can be lifted by one-off distributions that may not repeat. CARU and CARD are exchange-traded notes, which generally pay no dividends. Their return comes only from changes in their value.
Is there an ETF that holds Toyota stock?
Yes. TMH, the Toyota Motor Corporation ADRhedged fund, puts 96.48% of its assets in Toyota Motor Corp. It seeks the total return of Toyota's ordinary shares in their local market, before fees, so it hedges out moves in the yen against the dollar. An ADR, or American depositary receipt, is a certificate that lets a foreign company's shares trade in the US. TMH charges 0.19% a year and launched on March 13, 2025.
How many automotive ETFs are there?
This guide covers three: TMH, CARU and CARD. Only TMH is a traditional exchange-traded fund that owns shares. CARU and CARD, both launched by BMO Financial Group on June 27, 2023, are exchange-traded notes, a form of bank debt whose return is tied to an index. Both are leveraged, and CARD is also inverse, so two of the three are built for short-term trading rather than long-term holding.
What are the leveraged auto ETFs CARU and CARD?
They are triple-leveraged trading tools from BMO Financial Group. CARU aims for three times an auto industry index's moves, and CARD for minus three times, so CARD rises when auto stocks fall. Products like these usually reset daily, so over longer periods the compounding of daily gains and losses can pull returns far from the target multiple. In the year to October 27, 2026, both lost money: CARU 45.5% and CARD 7.3%, with worst falls of 54.1% and 43.6%.
How did automotive ETFs do in market crashes?
None of them has a long enough history to say. TMH launched on March 13, 2025, so it missed the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 COVID crash and the 2022 bear market, when the S&P 500 fell 55.2%, 33.7% and 24.5%. CARU and CARD date from June 27, 2023, so they missed all three as well. In the year to October 27, 2026, TMH's worst fall was 27.5%, CARU's was 54.1% and CARD's was 43.6%.
Is there a Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab automotive ETF?
No. None of the three offers a automotive ETF. The largest automotive ETFs come from Precidian Investments LLC (TMH), and customers of all three firms can buy other companies’ ETFs in their brokerage accounts.
