By Tom Murphy
First-quarter auto sales in the US are bringing a mixed bag for those hoping for evidence that the US market for battery-electric vehicles is actually picking up steam six months after the $7,500 federal tax credit was canned. Sure, there were signs of an EV market still in rebuilding mode for the first three months, but there were definitely some encouraging developments as well, particularly for Toyota, Hyundai, and Cadillac.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5, for instance, found its way to 9,790 US driveways in the first quarter, representing 14% growth over 2025, while the new three-row Ioniq 9 added 1,990 units. Hyundai's overall US sales of 205,388 vehicles led to a 1% improvement over Q1 2025, and the automaker attributed most of its success to brisk sales of hybrid versions of the Sonata, Elantra, and Santa Fe. But it was in March that Hyundai announced the demise of the Ioniq 6 all-electric sedan. Its sales fell 75% from Q1 2025 to 829 units so far this year.
Toyota bZ, Lexus RZ Post Big Gains
By the numbers, Toyota showed the biggest gain for EV deliveries, with the updated bZ up a robust 78.8% from Q1 2025 (to 10,029 units) while the Lexus RZ more than tripled its pace to 4,456 units. With the new Toyota C-HR, bZ Woodland, and Highlander rolling out this year, expect Toyota's EV tally to continue climbing.
Meanwhile, Q1 sales of the Toyota brand's "electrified" models, including hybrids and PHEVs, were down 1.4% to 252,369, while that number for Lexus rose 6.2% to 34,907 units. Overall, Toyota sold 569,420 vehicles in the US in the first quarter (down 0.1% from Q1 2025), trailing GM as the sales leader with 626,429 deliveries. Across all four brands, GM's first-quarter sales fell 9.7%.
But on the EV front, GM remains the No.2 EV seller behind Tesla, showing first-quarter growth with its newest Cadillac EVs, the Optiq and Vistiq, tallying 2,847 and 1,902 deliveries, respectively. Meanwhile, the Cadillac Lyriq and Escalade iQ and iQL were down 21.6% and 26.8%, respectively, to 3,370 and 1,432 units.
Among GM's other EVs, the newly arrived subcompact Chevy Bolt posted sales of 791 units, and the GMC Sierra full-size EV pickup posted a 3.1% gain to 1,288 units. But EVs did not help Chevrolet's bottom line: Compared to Q1 2025, sales were down 82.6% for Blazer EV (to 1,077 units), 7.2% for Equinox EV (to 9,589 units), and 41% for Silverado EV (1,406 units). The Hummer pickup and SUV fell 52.5% to 1,653 units compared to Q1 2025.
Nissan Leaf Down; Subaru Reveals Getaway
The first quarter brought disappointment for some EV enthusiasts as Honda announced the cancellation of the anticipated Acura RSX, which was supposed to arrive in the US later this year. The only other EV in Honda's portfolio, the Prologue SUV developed with General Motors, dropped 65.3% from Q1 2025 to 3,319 units this year. American Honda sales overall in the US, including Acura, were down 4.2% to 336,830 vehicles.
Read the full article on CarBuzz
This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
