Few automakers release monthly sales numbers, but those that do say EV sales dropped sharply in October. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 fell 63%, the Honda Prologue fell 81%, and the Kia EV6 fell 71%. The government’s decision to end the EV tax credit won’t affect companies like General Motors until the end of the year, since many automakers don’t release monthly sales figures. As people rushed to use the $ 7,500 government EV tax credit before it expired at the end of the month, sales of electric cars went through the roof in September. It was assumed that EV sales would drop in October, since people could no longer access government subsidies. There aren’t many automakers that still report monthly sales, but the ones that do don’t paint a good picture for EVs now that the tax credit is over. The loss of the tax credit hurts Korean automakers the most. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 was the fifth-best-selling electric vehicle through the third quarter of this year, but sales dropped 63% from October 2024 to October 2025, when it sold 4498 units. The drops were the same as those on the other platforms. The luxurious Genesis GV60 sold only 93 units, 54% fewer than the same month last year, and the Kia EV6 sold only 508 units, 71% fewer than the same month last year. It was also hard for the Hyundai Ioniq 6 car, which saw a 52% drop in sales to 398 units in October. Even though there aren’t any sales numbers for October of last year, the Ioniq 9’s 317 units are a big drop from the three-row SUV’s over 1000 units sold in each of the three months before. The Genesis Electrified GV70 sold only 15 units, down from 154 in October of last year. The EV9, which is the brother of the Ioniq 9, also saw a 66% drop to 666 units. Things were a lot worse at Honda. The Acura ZDX was discontinued after only one model year, but the similarly styled Honda Prologue is still available. However, it has sold only 806 units, 81% fewer than the 4130 it sold in October 2024. Honda hasn’t said anything about the 2026 model year yet, so the Prologue’s time is also running out. General sales of Ford’s electric cars dropped, but not as much as for the others. The Mustang Mach-E went down 12% to 2906 units, and the F-150 Lightning went down 17% to 1543 units. The E-Transit business van moved only 260 units, resulting in a 76% loss. Of course, this isn’t the whole story. Some big companies, like Tesla and Rivian, don’t break down individual sales at all, and General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen only release sales information every 3 months. Four of the top 10 best-selling EVs in the third quarter saw big sales drops in October, a sign that the EV market as a whole might be struggling. When the year ends, it will be much easier to tell if October was just a strange month or the start of a much bigger problem for EV sales.
