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 Toyota 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%.Cadillac 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 Honda 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.Jared Rosenholtz/CarBuzz/Valnet As for Nissan, the Ariya might still be available in some US showrooms, although only 56 units were delivered in the first quarter, down from 4,148 in Q1 2025. The redesigned, larger 2026 Leaf was intended to pick up the volume of both the Ariya and the departed previous-generation Leaf, but so far that has not happened. First-quarter Leaf deliveries were down 71.2% from Q1 2025 to 668 units. Overall for Nissan, Q1 deliveries were down 7.5% to 247,068 vehicles, including 12,750 units for Infiniti (down 3.2% from Q1 2025).Kia in the US managed to grow its first-quarter sales 4.1% to 207,015 vehicles on the strength of internal-combustion models like the K5, Seltos, Sportage, Telluride, and Carnival. But its two EVs didn't do so well, with the EV9 down 27% from Q1 2025 to 2,740 units and the EV6 falling 46% to 2,023 units.Closing on an upbeat note, Subaru at the New York International Auto Show today introduced the Getaway three-row EV, arriving later this year, bringing to four the number of battery-electrics in the portfolio, including the Uncharted, Trailseeker, and Solterra. While Subaru's overall US sales fell 14.9% to 141,944 units in the first quarter, Solterra sales of 3,041 units represented a drop of just 2.9%.
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