Ford’s EV Sales Collapsed 70% While Toyota’s Nearly Doubled

  • EV sales fell 27 percent year-over-year in Q1 2026 to 216,399 units.
  • Tesla still dominated with more than half the market share.
  • Toyota, Cadillac, Lexus, Rivian, and Lucid were rare bright spots.

It’s no secret that the electric vehicle market in the United States is cooler than in other regions. Americans are still buying EVs, just not at anything close to the pace automakers were banking on a year ago. New figures from Cox Automotive show U.S. EV sales fell 27 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, dropping to 216,399 vehicles. That sounds ugly, and it is, but there’s a catch: the collapse is slowing.

Compared to Q4 2025, EV sales were down 7.8 percent. That’s still a decline, but it’s a much smaller one than the 46 percent quarter-over-quarter plunge the market suffered at the end of last year after federal EV incentives disappeared.

Read: America’s EV Sales Fell By Nearly A Third, But Toyota Jumped 79%

EVs accounted for 5.8 percent of all new vehicles sold in Q1, exactly where they stood in Q4 2025. That’s well below the market’s 10.6 percent peak in Q3 2025, but at least the bleeding appears to have stopped. Tesla remained the elephant in the showroom. The brand sold 117,300 EVs in Q1, giving it a staggering 54.2 percent share of the entire U.S. EV market. That’s more than every other automaker combined.

Ford’s EV Sales Collapsed 70% While Toyota’s Nearly Doubled
COX Automotive

As has been the case for a long while, the Model Y was the dominant force. The crossover moved 78,591 units in Q1, up 22.7 percent from a year ago, and accounted for more than one out of every three EVs sold in America. Here’s the crazier part. The Model 3 came in second despite being down almost 40 percent year over year. Tesla sold 31,672 of them. That’s how wildly popular those two cars are despite all of the aspects of ownership.

EV Brand Sales USA
Brand Q1-26 Q1-25 Diff. Q1-26
Segment
Share
Tesla 117,300 128,100 -8.4% 54.2%
Chevrolet 13,359 19,186 -30.4% 6.2%
Hyundai 12,662 12,851 -1.5% 5.9%
Rivian 10,365 8,553 21.2% 4.8%
Toyota 10,042 5,610 79.0% 4.6%
Cadillac 9,551 7,972 19.8% 4.4%
Ford 6,860 22,550 -69.6% 3.2%
Kia 5,279 8,695 -39.3% 2.4%
BMW 4,963 13,538 -63.3% 2.3%
Lexus 4,456 1,454 206.7% 2.1%
Honda 3,319 9,561 -65.3% 1.5%
Subaru 3,041 3,131 -2.9% 1.4%
GMC 2,941 4,728 -37.8% 1.4%
Lucid 2,551 2,464 3.5% 1.2%
Volvo 2,343 3,026 -22.6% 1.1%
Porsche 1,280 4,358 -70.6% 0.6%
VW 1,177 9,564 -87.7% 0.5%
Mercedes 1,112 3,570 -68.9% 0.5%
Nissan 724 6,471 -88.8% 0.3%
Audi 635 5,905 -89.6% 0.3%
Ram 223 0 N/A 0.1%
Mini 202 669 -69.8% 0.1%
Dodge 240 1,947 -87.7% 0.1%
Jeep 193 2,595 -92.6% 0.1%
Genesis 164 1,496 -89.0% 0.1%
Acura 73 4,813 -98.5% 0.0%
Fiat 68 448 -84.8% 0.0%
Other Brands 1,276 3,334 -61.7% 0.6%
Total 216,399 296,589 -27.0% 100%
SWIPE

Behind Tesla, the field looked dramatically smaller. Chevrolet was the second-best-selling EV brand with 13,359 sales, narrowly ahead of Hyundai at 12,662 and Rivian at 10,365. Toyota was one of the quarter’s biggest surprises. Its bZ crossover nearly doubled sales to 10,029 units, helping the brand post a 79 percent gain.

Cadillac, Lexus, Rivian, Lucid, and Toyota were among the few automakers to post year-over-year growth. Lexus was particularly impressive, with the RZ climbing 206.7 percent. Meanwhile, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan, Audi, Acura, and Jeep all saw sales collapse by more than 85 percent. Some of the hardest hit models include the VW ID.4 (-95.6%), the Jeep Wagoneer S (-93.3%), and the Volvo XC40 (-93.1%).

For now, the U.S. EV market appears to have entered a new phase. Government incentives are gone, automakers are slashing production, and success increasingly depends on something far less exciting than hype: affordable products and realistic pricing.

Best-Selling EVs USA
Model Q1-26 Q1-25 Diff. Q1-26
Segment
Share
Tesla Model Y 78,591 64,051 22.7% 36.3%
Tesla Model 3 31,672 52,520 -39.7% 14.6%
Toyota BZ 10,029 5,610 78.8% 4.6%
Hyundai Ioniq 5 9,790 8,611 13.7% 4.5%
Chevrolet Equinox 9,589 10,329 -7.2% 4.4%
Rivian R1S 5,494 5,357 2.6% 2.5%
Ford Mustang Mach-E 4,600 11,607 -60.4% 2.1%
Lexus RZ 4,456 1,454 206.7% 2.1%
Cadillac Lyriq 3,370 4,300 -21.6% 1.6%
Honda Prologue 3,319 9,561 -65.3% 1.5%
Rivian EDV500/700 3,213 1,469 118.7% 1.5%
Subaru Solterra 3,041 3,131 -2.9% 1.4%
Cadillac Optiq 2,847 1,716 65.9% 1.3%
Kia EV9 2,740 3,756 -27.1% 1.3%
Tesla Model X 2,346 3,843 -39.0% 1.1%
BMW i4 2,184 7,125 -69.3% 1.0%
Ford F-150 Lightning 2,060 7,187 -71.3% 1.0%
Kia EV6 2,023 3,738 -45.9% 0.9%
Hyundai Ioniq 9 1,990 0 N/A 0.9%
Cadilla Vistiq 1,902 0 N/A 0.9%
BMW iX 1,788 3,626 -50.7% 0.8%
Rivian R1T 1,658 1,727 -4.0% 0.8%
GMC Hummer Truck/SUV 1,653 3,479 -52.5% 0.8%
Lucid Gravity 1,631 0 N/A 0.8%
Cadillac Escalade EV 1,432 1,956 -26.8% 0.7%
Chevrolet Silverado 1,406 2,383 -41.0% 0.6%
Volvo EX30 1,373 1,185 15.9% 0.6%
GMC Sierra EV 1,288 1,249 3.1% 0.6%
Tesla Model S 1,172 1,280 -8.4% 0.5%
Chevrolet Blazer 1,077 6,187 -82.6% 0.5%
SWIPE

Cox Automotive


The Auto World

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