Tesla Loses Steam In Q1 While US EV Sales Climb: The Winners And Losers

A new report highlights the growth of several automotive brands, as Tesla Inc.TSLA saw its market share decline in the U.S. electric vehicle sector in the first quarter.What Happened: A political push by Tesla CEO Elon Musk has led to protests at Tesla dealerships and lower sales of the leading electric vehicle company in the United States and around the world.A new Cox Automotive report, shared by Teslarati, highlights the top-selling electric vehicle companies and models in the United States for the first quarter.The report estimates that 296,227 electric vehicles were sold in the United States in the first quarter, up 11.4% year over year. According to the report, new EVs made up around 7.5% of the overall U.S. new car sales in the quarter.For comparison, the overall U.S. EV market sold 1.3 million new vehicles in 2024, a record. That figure was up 7.3% year over year.Read Also: EXCLUSIVE: Tesla Protest Organizer Says ‘Elon Musk Seems To Have Purchased The American Government’Winners and Losers: Tesla remained the U.S. leader by a wide margin, outselling the following top 10 companies combined. However, the EV leader saw its overall U.S. sales down 8.6% year over year.Here were the top EV sellers in the first quarter by units sold, according to the report:Tesla: 128,100Ford: 22,500Chevrolet: 19,186BMW: 13,538Hyundai: 12,843VW: 9,564Honda: 9,561Kia: 8,656Rivian: 8,553Cadillac: 7,972Ford Motor Company F and General Motors GM, which owns Chevrolet, ranked second and third for the quarter. Ford saw 11.5% overall year-over-year growth in the quarter.Several of General Motors’ brands saw strong growth, including Chevrolet, which had first-quarter sales up 114.2% year over year.Porsche led the way as a brand with a 249% year-over-year increase in the first quarter, followed by Toyota TM at +196%, GMC at +183, Subaru at 173% and Volvo at +173%.Outside of Tesla, other decliners included Lexus (-9%), Mini (-16%), Kia (-24%), Rivian Automotive RIVN (-37%) and Mercedes-Benz (-58%).These were the top-selling EV models in the U.S. in the quarter:Tesla Model Y: 64,051Tesla Model 3: 52,520Ford Mustang Mach-E: 11,607Chevrolet Equinox EV: 10,329Honda Prologue: 9,561Hyundai Ioniq 5: 8,611VW ID.4: 7,662Ford F-150 Lightning: 7,187BMW i4: 7,125Tesla Cybertruck: 6,406Tesla had three of the top 10 selling models in the quarter with the Model Y and Model 3 significantly ahead of the competition. The Ford F-150 Lightning sold better than the Cybertruck in the quarter though.What's Next: Tesla continues to be the market leader in the U.S., but its market share has fallen in recent years with increased competition and now brand power concerns.Tesla's U.S. quarterly sales are down 26% from their peak according to the report with the company's overall U.S. auto market share now around 3%, down from 5% in 2023.Cox Automotive predicts volatility for electric vehicles sales in the U.S. for the rest of 2025 depending on automotive tariffs and the ending of EV credits."The year certainly started strong, but the road ahead will be anything but smooth," Cox Automotive analyst Stephanie Valdez Streaty said.Read Next: Here’s How Many Vehicles Tesla Has Delivered, Produced In Each Quarter Since 2019Photo: iv-olga/Shutterstock