The 2025 EV Sales Numbers Are In, And They Reveal A Market Split In Two

Cox Automotive’s Q4 2025 Kelley Blue Book EV Sales Report landed this morning, and while the headline numbers look familiar, the underlying story is anything but. Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 still dominate the top two positions, but the real drama unfolds when you compare the first nine months of 2025 to Q4. The September 30 expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit cleaved the market in two, creating what may be the most distorted annual sales picture in EV history.

The full-year numbers show 1,275,714 EVs sold in the United States, a modest 2% decline from 2024’s 1,301,441 units. That looks manageable until you examine Q4 in isolation: just 234,171 units compared to 365,830 in Q4 2024, a catastrophic 36% year-over-year collapse. The pre-buy surge we warned about in July inflated Q3 artificially, and Q4 paid the price.

The Top 10 Best-Selling EVs in 2025

Industry analyst Sawyer Merritt shared the top 10 rankings on X, and the full Cox Automotive report reveals the complete picture:

Tesla’s combined Model Y and Model 3 sales of 549,968 units represent 43.1% of the entire U.S. EV market. Add in the Model S (5,889), Model X (13,066), and Cybertruck (20,237), and Tesla’s total reaches 589,160 units for a 46.2% market share. That’s down from 48.6% in 2024, but still a commanding lead.

The Affordable EV Breakthrough Finally Arrived

The most significant shift in 2025 happened in the sub-$40,000 segment. The Chevrolet Equinox EV’s meteoric rise from 28,874 units in 2024 to 57,945 in 2025 demonstrates that mainstream buyers will embrace EVs when the price is right. At $33,600 before incentives, the Equinox EV was the first true mass-market crossover EV from a legacy automaker, and consumers responded accordingly.

Honda’s Prologue tells a similar story. Despite launching mid-2024, the Ultium-platform crossover nearly matched its full first year of sales in 2025, growing from 33,017 to 39,194 units. Both vehicles prove that GM’s Ultium battery platform, despite its troubled early rollout, is now delivering competitive products at scale.

This is the market dynamic that should concern Tesla. The Model Y’s 4% decline occurred despite the “Juniper” refresh launching in early 2025. Tesla responded with aggressive lease deals and incentives throughout the year, but the competition is no longer playing catch-up. They’re competing head-to-head.

The Cybertruck Collapse and Electric Pickup Reality

Perhaps no vehicle better illustrates 2025’s challenges than the Cybertruck. After selling 38,965 units in 2024 (its first full year), sales plummeted 48.1% to just 20,237 units in 2025. The inventory crisis we reported in May, when over 10,000 Cybertrucks sat unsold representing $800 million in tied-up capital, proved prescient.

Q4 was particularly brutal for the angular pickup. Just 4,140 units sold in the final quarter, down 68.1% from Q4 2024’s 12,991 units. The combination of the tax credit expiration, high pricing, and ongoing demand concerns hit the Cybertruck harder than any other Tesla model.

The Ford F-150 Lightning also struggled, falling 18.5% to 27,307 units, though it still outsold the Cybertruck by 7,070 units. Rivian’s combined R1T and R1S sales (7,416 and 24,852 respectively) show the SUV form factor resonating more than the truck variant with buyers.

The Q4 Collapse: What the Tax Credit Expiration Really Did

The Cox Automotive data makes the October collapse we documented look even worse in context. When President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” killed the $7,500 EV credit on September 30, it didn’t just end a subsidy. It created a demand cliff.

Consider this: Tesla sold 138,000 vehicles in Q4 2025, down 15% from Q4 2024’s 162,388. But Tesla’s Q4 decline was actually better than the overall market’s 36% drop. The company’s market share in Q4 actually increased to 58.9%, up from the full-year 46.2%. When the subsidy disappeared, buyers who remained in the market disproportionately chose Tesla.

The brands that suffered most in Q4 were those whose models lost their tax credit eligibility or whose buyers were most price-sensitive. Honda Prologue sales cratered from 18,838 in Q4 2024 to just 2,641 in Q4 2025, an 86% collapse. The Chevrolet Equinox EV fell 71.7% quarter-over-quarter, from 18,089 to 5,111 units.

The Brands That Bucked the Trend

Not every manufacturer struggled. Cadillac’s EV lineup grew 69.1% year-over-year to 49,152 units, with the Escalade EV (8,115 units), new Optiq (12,187 units), and Vistiq (7,879 units) joining the established Lyriq (20,971 units). GM’s luxury brand is proving that there’s still strong demand for premium EVs, even without incentives.

Porsche posted a stunning 117.5% gain in EV sales, driven primarily by the new electric Macan (8,799 units). Volvo grew 96.3% on the strength of the EX30 (5,409 units) and EX90 (3,913 units), though total volume remains modest at 10,821 units.

Lucid deserves mention for growing 36.6% to 12,614 units, with the new Gravity SUV adding 1,801 units in its first months of availability. For a company that nearly collapsed multiple times, 2025 represents genuine progress.

EVXL’s Take

The 2025 EV sales data tells two very different stories depending on which months you examine. Through September, the U.S. EV market was healthy and growing, with multiple affordable options driving mainstream adoption. From October through December, it was a bloodbath.

The 2% full-year decline masks a much more troubling reality: without federal incentives, the U.S. EV market contracted by more than a third. That’s not a market maturing; that’s a market being artificially stunted by policy choices.

Tesla remains dominant by any measure, but 2025 proved the company is no longer untouchable. The Chevrolet Equinox EV demonstrated that legacy automakers can build compelling, affordable EVs that resonate with mainstream buyers. The Cybertruck’s collapse showed that even Tesla’s most loyal fans have price sensitivity limits.

Looking ahead to 2026, we expect Q1 sales to remain depressed as the market adjusts to life without the tax credit. Tesla will likely maintain or grow share as price-sensitive buyers exit the market entirely. The winners will be manufacturers who can deliver compelling EVs under $35,000 without relying on government subsidies.

The question for buyers isn’t whether EVs are the future. It’s whether 2025 was a temporary setback or the beginning of a prolonged stall in American EV adoption.

Editorial Note: This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI to ensure technical accuracy and archive retrieval. All insights, industry analysis, and perspectives were provided exclusively by Haye Kesteloo and our other DroneXL authors, editors, and Youtube partners to ensure the “Human-First” perspective our readers expect.