Tesla dominated the third quarter electric vehicle sales numbers in the US, but there was one disappointment: the Cybertruck.
Overall, the electric vehicle industry benefited from a $7,500 tax credit loss in the third quarter, something many had expected. As the credit expired, consumers rushed to showrooms to obtain the credit and remove $7,500 from the purchase price of their new car.
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It’s been a very exciting time for many businesses as they scramble to figure out how to get as many vehicles out the door as possible in preparation for the removal of the tax credit. In typical fashion, Tesla was able to outperform all manufacturers and secure a dominant portion of the overall market in the third quarter.
However, some OEMs did pull off some surprises, including Chevrolet, Honda and Ford, which managed to have two cars in the top 10, the same number as Tesla.
Cox Automotive compiled the data in its third-quarter electric vehicle sales report:
Tesla Model Y – 114,897 Tesla Model 3 – 53,857 Chevrolet Equinox EV – 25,085 Hyundai Ioniq 5 – 21,999 Honda Prologue – 20,236 Ford Mustang Mach-E – 20,177 Volkswagen ID.4 – 12,470 Audi Q6 e-tron – 10,299 Ford F-150 Lightning – 10,005 Rivian R1S – 8,184
10.5 percent of US vehicle sales in the third quarter were electric, a new record higher than what was set in the third quarter of 2024, when the overall share of electric vehicle sales was 8.6 percent.
Now, the biggest disappointment in this list is the fact that there is no Tesla Cybertruck included. This is because it was the second best-selling EV pickup on the market. The company sold 5,385 Cybertruck units in the third quarter.
The Cybertruck has been a vehicle that has puzzled many Tesla fans and owners, especially considering that the company had such stratospheric expectations for the vehicle during its development. The truck’s reservation trackers had between 1 and 2 million orders, but it didn’t live up to that.
Pricing is the main issue with the Cybertruck. Tesla offers the pickup truck in single-, dual- and three-motor configurations, priced at $39,990, $49,990 and $69,990. These price points are simply a thing of the past.
🚨 The Tesla Cybertruck was the second best-selling EV pickup in the third quarter, according to Cox Automotive data.
It was outsold only by the Ford F-150 Lightning, which sold 10,005 units during the quarter.
Cybertruck had 5,385 sales. pic.twitter.com/Q2gnUbF6bk
— Teslarati (@Teslarati) October 13, 2025
