general motors reported Thursday that it sold 670,974 new cars in the third quarter, a 5.5% decline from a year earlier.
Sales of GM’s all-electric vehicles are declining across the board as enthusiasm for EVs wanes. Demand for EVs surged last year ahead of the Trump administration’s increase to $7,500 in federal incentives to encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles. In the same period last year, GM reported record sales of electric vehicles.
Against these comparisons, EVs have seen a dramatic decline this year, with the Equinox EV selling 1,905 units in the most recent quarter, down 92.4%. Sales of the Blazer EV decreased by 84.4%, and sales of the Hummer EV decreased by 72.9%.
The report comes after Cox Automotive announced last week that new car sales were stronger than expected this year and raised its 2026 forecast by about 2% to 16.1 million units.
Hybrid vehicle sales are expected to increase market share in car sales as rising gasoline prices weigh on consumers.
Although the Detroit automaker offers a wide lineup of EVs, it only offers one hybrid vehicle, the Corvette. Experts expect GM’s weakness in this area to impact overall sales.
Hybrids helped other automakers surpass GM in sales in the third quarter.
Toyota Motor Corporation reported that its EV and hybrid vehicles accounted for more than 57% of the Japanese automaker’s sales this quarter.
Toyota said sales rose 0.6% in the most recent quarter to 633,223 vehicles sold. Sales of electric vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, increased by 28.5% to 363,367 units sold.
As a result, Toyota continues to close the gap with U.S. sales leader GM, which now stands at less than 136,000 units. This compares to last year’s full-year difference of about 335,000 units.
Cox Automotive said earlier this year that if these sales trends continue, Toyota could once again overtake GM as the U.S. sales leader within a few years.
Honda also offers several hybrid vehicles and leads major automakers in fuel efficiency in the U.S. Honda reported a 9.3% increase in U.S. sales in the third quarter. Hybrid sales for the quarter were over 106,000 units.
“The demand for hybrid vehicles is very high,” Lance Wolfer, American Honda Motor Co.’s U.S. sales manager, told CNBC. “We’re finding that more and more consumers are finding that hybrids meet their needs.”
Rising fuel prices, with a national average AAA price of $4.41, were also expected to impact sales of heavy-duty trucks and SUVs, areas on which GM relies. GM’s full-size pickups were relatively flat.
The automaker’s brands are down year to date, led by Cadillac, which is down 25%.
GM’s low-cost cars are a bright spot for the company as consumers face high inflation. In the third quarter, the Chevrolet Trailblazer was up 51%, the Buick Envista was up 18.4% and the Chevrolet Trax was up 16.3%.
Despite the sales decline, GM North America President Duncan Aldred remained optimistic. GM noted that sales of vehicles equipped with conventional internal combustion engines were roughly flat from the same period last year.
“Our business is performing extremely well, with the launch of our next-generation full-size pickup truck on track and we are investing in new vehicles, innovative technology and our U.S. manufacturing footprint to power our next phase of growth,” Aldred said in a statement.
Last month, GM announced additional details about a new V-8 engine for pickup trucks in an effort to maintain its leadership in truck sales.
Other automakers to report third-quarter U.S. auto sales on Thursday include:
Parent company of Chrysler and Jeep Stellantisreported nearly flat sales from a year ago, driven by a 29% increase in sales for its Ram pickup truck and van brands. The company’s Jeep brand is down about 20%.nissan motorsreported a 1.4% increase in sales, driven by higher retail sales for its namesake brand and luxury Infiniti division. The Hyundai brand reported sales growth of about 3%, while the luxury brand’s Genesis division posted a 6% increase. Kia announced a 7.8% increase for the quarter, including an almost 18% increase during September. The company announced that 236,659 units sold in the third quarter set a new quarterly record for the company.
Correction: Duncan Aldred is the president of GM North America. A previous version of this article misstated his title.
