Americans are still warming up to electric vehicles, and the adoption rate isn’t near what industry experts predicted. Still, toward the end of last year, Cox Automotive reported the largest increase in sales of any quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Americans bought close to 400,000 electric vehicles, a 15.2-percent increase compared to the previous year. The total number of EVs sold also reached a new record, reaching 1.2 million.
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Buyers Rush To Get Incentives
The significant increase in electric vehicle sales toward the end of the year is primarily due to end-of-year lease and finance deals and federal and state incentive programs that the new presidential administration could eliminate. Buyers rushed to take advantage of these discounts. For example, shoppers could lease the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y for under $300 per month or a Hyundai Ioniq 5 for as low as $199 per month for 24 months with $3,999 due at signing.
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Despite stiff competition from China, Tesla’s are still very popular.
New EVs Flood The Market
Plenty of fresh electric vehicles hit the market last year as well, including the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck, Honda’s first EV, the Prologue, which uses GM’s battery technology, and the all-electric version of Chevrolet’s popular compact crossover, the Equinox. Tesla has dominated electric vehicle sales for years, but the new products helped GM and Honda combine to sell 80,000 more EVs last year compared to 2023. The increase in sales from other brands might be why Tesla reported lower sales than the previous year—or it could be due to CEO Elon Musk’s waning image with some consumers. Still, Tesla was the top seller, accounting for just under half of all EV sales.
These are Cox Automotive’s top 10 best-selling electric models in the U.S. last year:
- Tesla Model Y
- Tesla Model 3
- Ford Mustang Mach-E
- Hyundai Ioniq 5
- Tesla Cybertruck
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- Honda Prologue
- Chevrolet Equinox
- Cadillac Lyriq
- Rivian R1S
More than 15 new electric vehicles are planned to enter the market this year, and the infrastructure will continue to grow rapidly, so researchers at Cox Automotive predict that electric vehicle sales growth will continue this year. Still, policy changes by the incoming Trump administration might change things, but that will take time, so hop on those electric vehicle incentives while you can.
