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These were the best-selling EV brands in the U.S. in Q1
Tesla remained the clear market leader in Q1, while Chevrolet and others saw substantial sales growth with the introduction of new models.
A recent report has revealed the latest estimates on electric vehicle (EV) sales for the first quarter of the year, with Tesla and Ford landing the top two spots, while GM’s brands saw the most sales growth.
On Thursday, Cox Automotive released data estimates for the U.S. EV market in Q1 2025, showing that Tesla remained the clear market leader among brands, while Ford, GM, BMW, and Hyundai made up the rest of the top five. The report estimated 296,227 EVs sold overall, marking an 11.4 percent increase year over year, and bringing new-vehicle EV sales to around 7.5 percent of the market.
Cox notes that this is still a steady increase from 7 percent of the market during Q1 last year, despite headwinds created by the Trump administration’s tariff war.
“The year certainly started strong, but the road ahead will be anything but smooth,” said Valdez Streaty, Cox Automotive analyst.
Tesla outsold the next top 10 brand names combined in Q1 with 128,100 units, though sales declined 8.6 percent year over year for the brand. Ford was the second-best-selling brand with 22,550 units sold, representing an 11.5 percent increase year over year.
Meanwhile, GM’s Chevrolet brand saw a 114.2 percent increase in sales from the first quarter of 2024 with 19,186, as led by the Chevy Equinox EV. The rest of the top 10 was made up, in order, by VW (9,564), Honda (9,561), Kia (8,656), Rivian (8,553), and Cadillac (7,972).
Brands such as Porsche, Toyota, and GMC joined the Chevy brand in seeing substantial sales growth, representing 249 percent, 196 percent, and 183 percent increases year over year, respectively.
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It’s worth noting that multiple automakers own different brands, such as Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac being owned by GM, Audi being owned by VW, or Stellantis owning Jeep and Dodge, among other examples still.
EV Sales Volume Change by Brand: Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024
Credit: Cox Automotive
New Entries: EV Sales Volume in Q1 2025
Credit: Cox Automotive
READ MORE ON EV SALES: Tesla vs. competition: How many BEVs did OEMs sell in the U.S. in 2024?
Tesla doesn’t break out sales data by region, though the company recently reported delivering 336,681 units globally in the first quarter, representing a 13-percent drop from Q1 2024.
While it’s not a surprise that Tesla’s market share steadily declines as more competition enters the market, recent pressure on Elon Musk for his involvement with the Trump administration has, if nothing else, caused some automakers to try to poach Tesla owners with special trade-ins and other promotions.
Tesla has also been rolling out the refreshed Model Y, and the potential effects of the transition to it from the legacy model may play a role, though future quarters will show a better glimpse at the impact of the redesigned vehicle’s arrival.
At the time of writing, Cox Automotive has also not yet responded to Teslarati’s request for clarification on which brands are included in the “additional EV models” category. However, we expect these to include low-volume, luxury, and other niche EV brands, such as Lucid Motors. The publication also says the data overall excludes super exotics.
You can see EV sales ranked by brand below, check out the full data from Cox Automotive here, or read the publication’s press release on the report here.
Mass-market EV sellers in Q1 2025, ranked by brand
- Tesla: 128,100
- Ford: 22,500
- Chevrolet: 19,186
- BMW:13,538
- Hyundai: 12,843
- VW: 9,564
- Honda: 9,561
- Kia: 8,656
- Rivian: 8,553
- Cadillac: 7,972
- Nissan: 6,471
- Audi:Â 5,905
- Toyota: 5,610
- Acura: 4,813
- GMC: 4,728
- Porsche: 4,358
- Mercedes: 3,472
- Subaru: 3,131
- Volvo: 2,718
- Jeep: 2,595
- Dodge: 1,947
- Genesis: 1,496
- Lexus: 1,453
- Mini: 696
- Jaguar: 381
- Additional EV models*: 5,390
Total EV sales estimated by KBB in the U.S. in Q1 2025: 296,227
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*The additional EV models category is likely made up of low-volume, luxury, and niche EV makers
Top 10 EV models sold in the U.S. in Q1 2025
- Tesla Model Y: 64,051
- Tesla Model 3: 52,520
- Ford Mustang Mach-E: 11,607
- Chevrolet Equinox EV: 10,329
- Honda Prologue: 9,561
- Hyundai Ioniq 5: 8,611
- VW ID.4: 7,663
- Ford F-150 Lightning: 7,187
- BMW i4: 7,125
- Tesla Cybertruck: 6,406
Here’s how many EVs were sold in the U.S. last year by model
Tesla has started to deploy the 2026 Summer Update to owners across its fleet, and among the biggest changes are improvements to Navigation, a new startup animation for the Model 3 and Model Y, Caraoke scoring, and new capabilities for Grok.
As the update has started making its way to some cars, we can now see a few of the features operating in real-time. We will show you what some of the new features look like in this article, along with some additional details on what changed.
Not all of the new features in the 2026 Summer Update have quite made an appearance, but some of them have, so we’ll show those here:
New Animation Screen for 3/Y
Tesla is rolling out a new startup animation for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y owners. This is present in Launch Edition and Performance Model 3 and Model Y, but other trim levels do not have anything like this.
The new animation screen on Model 3/Y with the 2026 Summer Update
Apparently color will also be customizable: pic.twitter.com/wSdwggtG3S
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 27, 2026
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Owners can adjust the color associated with the startup animation to suit their preferences. It is a surprise that more automakers do not focus on this animation for their vehicles; it can be a great first impression piece and make the car immediately feel more luxurious.
Tesla has included this on more premium trims, but it is nice to see it on the Model 3 and Model Y.
Grok Improvements
Grok can now adjust more things in the car outside of the Navigation system. Now, drivers can adjust anything from climate to driving settings by simply speaking to the AI assistant in the car:
@Tesla‘s AI assistant (Grok) with its new vehicle commands in action.
Set the climate, your destination and vehicle settings all in one go! pic.twitter.com/0bBTqaAk6G
— Not a Tesla App (@NotATeslaApp) July 28, 2026
You don’t even have to push a button, either. Instead, you can just say “Hey, Grok,” if you have it enabled. That feature rolled out with the 2026 Spring Update just a few months back.
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This is a great feature, especially pertinent for the Robotaxi platform, as there will be no buttons inside the Cybercab when it eventually starts giving rides to the public. It also broadens Grok’s capabilities, which were relatively limited in terms of vehicle setting adjustments beforehand.
Tesla briefly offered one Robotaxi part in its Parts Catalog for your personal car, only to remove it just a short time after it was first noticed.
Tesla’s Robotaxi camera washer apparatus was briefly available for purchase on the company’s Online Parts Catalog. The camera washer was first noticed on Model Y Robotaxi vehicles about six months ago in Austin.
🚨 Tesla looks to have installed Camera Washers on the side repeater cameras on Robotaxis in Austin
pic.twitter.com/xemRtDtlRR— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 23, 2026
First noticed by Not a Tesla App, the Camera Washer entries appeared for the new “Juniper” Model Y under a category called “Halo,” which has also now disappeared. Interestingly, Halo probably is related to Tesla’s internal “Project Halo,” which was a project that aimed to retrofit customer-owned Model Ys into functional Robotaxis.
This hardware addition would likely be required for the vehicle to operate as a Robotaxi, as the Camera Washer seems to be a non-negotiable part of the vision-based system Tesla utilizes for self-driving efforts.
However, this part has since been removed and is no longer visible on the EPC.
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Now the true question lingers: Why would Tesla add this Camera Washer to the Model Y parts catalog? Is it planning to make it available for owners to utilize on their own cars for personal use, or will it become a prerequisite for Robotaxi operation in customer-owned cars?
While discussing the upgrade options for Hardware 3 vehicles during the Q1 Earnings Call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said that the company could establish small, satellite shops that would upgrade cameras and self-driving computers. Perhaps this same strategy could be utilized for vehicles that want to be included in Robotaxi but do not have the correct hardware.
AI4 is currently represented as capable of unsupervised self-driving, and the same was said about HW3 at one point, only for Tesla to admit last quarter that it would, unfortunately, not be possible. Perhaps AI4 vehicles might need this camera washer as a prerequisite, just as HW3 cars will need that camera and computer upgrade.
This could be the first hint of that’s where we are headed.
Tesla has started rolling out a broader change to the ride experience for its Robotaxi fleet by silencing turn signals, but the change is certainly polarizing.
Tesla has generally made it clear that its purpose-built ride-hailing platform, Robotaxi, will cater to the rider in nearly every way possible. This includes having climate preferences, music, and other personal settings loaded up in the car as the rider enters.
But Tesla is taking it a step further by muting turn signal chimes altogether, a change that appears to be a way to make the ride more peaceful:
Tesla has finally turned off the blinker/turn signal noises in their Model Y Robotaxis.
This is a small update, but will definitely be noticeable for riders. It didn’t really make much sense to leave the turn signal sound on when it’s Unsupervised. pic.twitter.com/ITwx60PAMO
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 27, 2026
However, there are a handful of people who are not thrilled about this change. Turn signals are a conditioned part of the human mind for those who ride in a car regularly.
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Taking a turn without one feels strange and odd, and not hearing it click while activated could set off some alarms for riders, who might use the noise as confirmation that other drivers know of their intention to turn.
I kind of like it being on, threw me off when riding with Zoox who has had it disabled
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) July 27, 2026
Turn signal noises are still audible in customer cars, so if you use FSD in your personal vehicle, you will still hear the turn signal.
The move is certainly one that is unique, but not one that separates it from other ride-sharing services. In a normal car, the clicking sound confirms to the driver that the blinker is active. In a fully driverless Robotaxi, that feedback serves no purpose for passengers, other than peace of mind.
Tesla Summer Update begins rolling out: a look at the new features
Tesla briefly offered this Robotaxi part for your personal car
