Tesla has had a difficult couple of years. Between stagnant sales, the Cybertruck’s failure to fix it, and Elon Musk’s declining reputation among the company’s core buyers, it’s hard to deny.
Despite all this, the company has maintained its amazing control over the electric car market in America. The latest sales figures prove this.
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Welcome back to Critical materialsyour daily report on the biggest stories shaping the high-tech evolution of the automotive industry. Also of concern today: We know how electric vehicle sales will fare in 2025 as a whole, and it’s not as bad as you might think. Additionally, BMW is bringing the heat to Mercedes.
Let’s jump!
25%: Tesla Model Y prevails
The Tesla Model Y has been the most popular electric car in America so far in 2025.
Photo by: Tesla
If you just read the more sensationalist headlines, you might think Tesla is dead in the water. But Model Y crossover It remains the most popular electric vehicle in America. And it’s not even close.
In 2025, Tesla sold more than 357,000 Model Y vehicles in the United States, according to Estimates Tuesday from Cox Motors. (Tesla doesn’t break down its sales by region, so we have to steer clear of third-party analytics.) That’s a 4% decline from 2024, when Tesla sold an estimated 373,000 Model Ys.
Despite the decline, Tesla’s crossovers accounted for 28% of all EV sales in the US in 2025. They gained a whopping 39.5% market share in the last quarter of the year.
The company has steadily lost share in the face of increasing competition from cars like the Cadillac Lyriq, Hyundai IONIQ 5 And the Ford Mustang Mach E. But he’s still king. The Tesla Model 3 came in second place in 2025, with nearly 192,000 units sold. Nearly four in 10 electric vehicle buyers went home in the past year in a Model 3 or Model Y.
Third place went to the Chevrolet Equinox EV. GM says it sold 57,945 of them last year. Two other non-Tesla cars ended up nearby as well. The gap between Elon Musk’s company and the rest of the companies is huge.
This can be said to be a sign of an unhealthy and immature market. But it’s also a good sign for the EV space as a whole, and I’ll explain why.
Every time someone points out that Americans “don’t want electric cars,” I think of the Model Y. The fact that the Model Y is selling in such huge numbers, and has been for years now, is a powerful refutation of that narrative. the people He does You want to make the switch, as long as it’s an electric vehicle that doesn’t feel like a compromise. Even years after its launch, the Model Y is still one of the easiest electric cars to live with. That’s why I recently argued that Tesla should get back to making cars.
50%: Where will electric car sales reach in 2025?
The Chevy Equinox EV was one of the best-selling electric vehicles in America last year.
Photo: Mac Hogan/InsideEVs
What about the electricity market as a whole? Cox’s numbers shed some light on how EVs will end up in 2025, and the results may not be as bleak as you think.
To recap: Electric vehicle sales soared in the third quarter of last year as buyers rushed to claim the cool $7,500 tax credit. Then, as everyone expected, the market collapsed in the fourth quarter. This is mainly because many people withdraw purchases that they were going to make later.
“2025 has started out much as expected, as changes in federal electric vehicle incentives reshaped demand patterns that led to record sales in the third quarter,” Stephanie Valdez Streety, director of industry insights at Cox, said in a statement.
Photography: Tim Levin/InsideEVs
The boom-bust cycle has caused EV sales to decline slightly year-over-year. In 2025, Americans bought 1.28 million new electric cars, down about 2% from 2024. At the end of the day, given the canceled models and the hype around declining demand, that’s not a terrible result.
But it’s not great news for America’s electric vehicle space, either. Congress and President Trump move to roll back pro-electric vehicle policies and clean air standards Putting an end to several years of rapid expansion. In 2020 — not so long ago — about a quarter of a million electric cars took to the road in the United States. Things exploded from there until sales peaked in 2024.
Cox expects EV market share to be roughly flat again in 2026, as auto companies react to the new policy environment.
“Cox Automotive believes that electric vehicle sales will increase over the long term, and that the U.S. market will become more electrified in the next decade, with product innovation and improved infrastructure supporting gradual sales growth,” the company said.
75%: BMW outperforms Mercedes
Sales of BMW electric cars are growing. Mercedes-Benz cars are shrinking.
BMW and Mercedes are in an eternal battle for survival the German luxury car manufacturer. When it comes to electric vehicles, BMW has a good lead.
like Bloomberg As pointed out this week, the gap between the two companies’ electric vehicle sales is widening. Last year, Mercedes sold 168,800 battery electric vehicles, down 9% from 2024. BMW shipped 442,072 vehicles, a slight increase.
BMW has largely gotten things right with its electric portfolio. The Mercedes EQ wasn’t a huge success, so it went back to the drawing board. Now both companies are coming out with the next generation of clean electric cars in 2026. For Mercedes, the spearhead is CLA. For BMW, it is iX3. Early judgment on these two models was good, based on testing conducted by Patrick George and myself, respectively.
In the coming years, those cars and their platform mates will decide whether Mercedes starts to catch up or BMW continues to withdraw.
100%: Who are you betting on?
Will BMW continue to eat Benz’s lunch here? Or does Mercedes have what it takes to move forward?
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
