The Chevy Equinox EV’s run as GM’s top-selling electric car is quickly coming to an end after sales dropped 92% in Q3.
GM Q3 EV sales drop across the board
After reporting that Q3 sales fell by 6% with 670,974 vehicles sold in the US, GM blamed “the much smaller EV market and discontinued vehicles.”
Like many automakers, GM’s EV sales were much lower than last year after the Trump Administration ended the $7,500 federal tax credit last September.
Sales of nearly every GM electric vehicle were lower in the third quarter compared to Q3 2025, when the credit was still being offered.
The Chevy Equinox EV, GM’s best-selling EV in 2025 and third in the US behind the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, has quickly fallen out of favor this year.
GM sold just 1,905 Chevy Equinox EVs last quarter, down 92% from the more than 25,000 it delivered in Q3 2025.
Aside from the new Chevy Bolt, which added another 3,866 to the total in Q3, GM’s EV sales fell across the board.
Chevy Blazer EV sales dropped 84% to 5,199, while Silverado EV sales totaled 1,655, down 58% from a year ago.
While sales were still down from last year, Cadillac’s electric SUVs accounted for nearly half of GM’s EV sales in the third quarter.
Cadillac sold 3,617 Lyriqs (-50%), 4,550 Optiqs (-6.9%), 2,587 Vistiqs (-34.1%), and 1,604 Escalade IQ/IQLs (-29%). GMC, meanwhile, moved just 1,423 Hummer EVs (-73%) and 1,661 Sierra EVs (-50.8%).
Through the first nine months of 2026, the Chevy Equinox is still ahead of the pack with 18,154 units sold, down 65% from the nearly 53,000 GM delivered during the same period in 2025.
Electrek’s Take
GM has promoted itself as the “#2 EV seller” in the US behind Tesla, but its recent shift back to gas cars is costing it.
Electric vehicles were barely mentioned in GM’s Q3 sales report, aside from Cadillac expanding its lead in the luxury EV market by 1.3 ppt through August.
To make matters worse, Reuters reported earlier this week that GM plans to build about 75% fewer Chevy Bolt EVs than it had originally planned before the Trump Administration ended the $7,500 federal tax credit.
The new Bolt was already a “limited-run” model, and now GM plans to build about 35,000 units before production is scheduled to end in Q1 2027.
With new lower-priced electric cars now on sale, like the Toyota bZ and Kia EV3, GM’s top-selling EV is losing ground. With the Bolt on its way out, GM is opening the door for rivals to continue winning market share in the US EV market.
While the loss of the $7,500 tax credit played a big role, GM is also falling behind rivals that have introduced new or updated versions of their top sellers, such as Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 and Toyota’s bZ.
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