Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F) and General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) both reported record electric vehicle sales in the third quarter. While this could be good news for the growing adoption of EVs in the U.S., the big question is how much of the growth was tied to the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit.
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Ford's Record Quarter
Ford reported third-quarter U.S. overall automotive sales up 8.2%, marking its seventh consecutive month of sales growth.
Electric vehicle sales hit 85,789 in the quarter, up 19.8% year-over-year.
The Mustang Mach-E had its best-ever quarter with sales up 50.7% year-over-year. The F-150 Lightning had sales of 10,005 in the quarter, up 16.5% quarter-over-quarter. The electric pickup truck remained America's best-selling EV truck in the quarter.
Year-to-date, Ford's EV sales are 242,298, up 16.5% year-over-year.
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GM's Record Quarter
General Motors reported a record 66,501 electric vehicles sold in the third quarter.
The company acknowledged that the federal tax credit expiration led to strong demand from consumers.
GM also said the Equinox EV is the bestselling non-Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) electric vehicle in the U.S.
GM's Cadillac brand was also acknowledged for having three of the top 10 bestselling luxury EVs in the U.S. through September.
According to InsideEVs, General Motors has already passed its 2024 EV sales total with one quarter left to go. General Motors has sold 144,668 EVs year-to-date in 2025, up from the 114,432 EVs sold in 2024. EV sales are up 103% year-over-year through the first three quarters.
EV Growth or One Unique Quarter?
Along with GM and Ford, Tesla also turned in a record quarter, reporting 497,009 vehicles delivered in the third quarter.
The record quarters for electric vehicles come during the last quarter of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which expired after Sept. 30.
Some automakers, including Ford, General Motors and Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) are looking at ways to extend the $7,500 tax credit for consumers to keep demand high.
The fourth quarter could see a significant pullback from third-quarter numbers, but it will be interesting to see how much of a lift it gets from having some automakers working to offer incentives to customers.
For the U.S. EV market, the big test will likely be the first-quarter delivery numbers, which will include no impact from the $7,500 federal tax credit. The sector is likely to see a significant drop off in demand from the third quarter.
To keep the U.S. EV market growing, automakers likely need to work on ways to lower the price point without the credits closer to $30,000, or the country could look to Chinese EV companies that have lower price points in other markets and are taking share from Tesla and other U.S. companies.
The topics of the EV sales in the third quarter and growing competition from China were among the items covered on Benzinga's recent episode of "Market Playbook." Watch the full episode below.
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