We got our first “clean” look at the US auto industry in 2025 in May, with tax refund season over and tariff negotiations overshadowed by other gloomy stories. The results show that hybrids are driving the market while EVs are a mixed bag.
Stories like this may be arranged in a variety of ways, and there are more thorough resources available that will provide you with a detailed, model-by-model look at sales. However, when it comes to EVs and hybrids, I’m concentrating on the “usual suspects” and top performers.
With 79,007 units sold in May, Kia reported a 5.0% year-over-year improvement and its eighth consecutive month of year-over-year growth. A record month sales for the Carnival minivan and the Telluride and Sportage SUVs also contributed to that figure. The Kia EV6 and the company’s flagship EV9 three-row SUV, which sold only 37 units last month, were two vehicle lines that did not help.
As Kia moves EV9 manufacturing from South Korea to its new EV factory in Georgia, some of that is inventory-based; nonetheless, Kia retailers are keen to relocate their EVs regardless of the cause. Customers may take advantage of fantastic discounts on EVs from the company as well as good offers on the Kia Sportage Hybrid and Sorrento Plug-in Hybrid.
Hyundai had a fantastic month as well, with sales increasing 3.7% from April and 8% year over year, translating into an incredible 84,521 units sold in May.
“This is actually our regular annual pricing review period,” Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker told a Reuters reporter yesterday. “We examine consumer demand and market dynamics, regardless of tariffs.”
Hyundai’s Elantra N (+141%) and the Venue (+74%), Tucson (+15%), and Palisade (+10%) SUVs, which all set May records, were the main drivers of those improvements, according to Car Dealership Guy. Even the IONIQ 6 electric sedan, which I consider the best Tesla Model 3 substitute, saw a 9% year-over-year increase, and the company’s three-row IONIQ 9 SUV finally started to be produced. For the year, Hyundai’s hybrid sales also increased by 5%.
With around 119,000 “electrified” cars delivered in May, Toyota also saw a huge increase last month. That figure accounted for nearly half of the brand’s total volume, representing an 11% year-over-year growth and a 39% gain over the same month previous year.
Naturally, Toyota is the pioneer in the hybrid market. In 2025, almost 30 years after the first Toyota Prius was introduced in Japan, practically every Toyota vehicle is either hybrid-only or available as a hybrid. This includes the well-known Corolla and Camry models, the Sierra minivan, and even the Tacoma and Tundra hybrid pickups.
According to CNBC, sales of Ford vehicles increased by an astounding 17.2% year over year. This increase was fuelled in part by the company’s employee discount promotions, but even more so (?) by a staggering 29% increase in sales of the company’s hybrid Ford and Lincoln models. Lincoln had its greatest month of 2025, with a 39% year-over-year increase.
Ford F-150 Lightning and E-Transit van sales were down by 25% year over year, but sales of the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover remained largely stable.
Subaru saw the largest decline of all the historical brands, down 18.6% YoY and 23.2% from April, while sales of the brand fell more than 10% year over year and 6.6% from April on the wrong side of the growth table. Notably, Tesla does not provide monthly sales figures in the United States; nonetheless, its sales abroad are far worse. Despite a 44.9% year-over-year increase in EV sales, CNEVPost reports that sales in China are down 15% for May, while Tesla sales in Germany decreased by more than a third.
According to Cox Auto’s May projection, the 2025 sales pace will be roughly 16 million units, which is a modest increase over the previous year but a big drop from the 17.8 million units sold in March and the 17.3 million units sold in April.