A Dozen Models Defied The Q4 EV Sales Crash. Here

• Electric vehicle sales in the U.S. fell 36% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of last year.
• Many of those Q4 purchases happened in Q3 due to the end of the tax credits.
• But EVs like the Tesla Model Y, Porsche Taycan and Cadillac Escalade IQ continued to grow regardless.

The electric vehicle market keeps getting better every year. More choices, a steadily expanding charging network and real improvements in the underlying technology helped make last year the second-best on record for EV sales in the U.S., critics be damned.

Americans bought 1.27 million battery-powered vehicles in 2025, just 2% shy of the 2024 record of 1.3 million, according to Cox Automotive estimates. That number, however, masks a sharp shift that happened late last year.

After the $7,500 federal tax credit expired at the end of Q3, sales fell off a cliff in Q4, dropping to just 234,000 units. That’s a 46% decline from Q3 and down 36% year-over-year. Most EVs posted negative growth in that period. Still, a small but telling group of about a dozen vehicles bucked the trend.

Several models from General Motors, Porsche, Tesla, Lucid and Mercedes managed to grow in the final quarter without the help of the now-dead $7,500 federal tax credit. They also did so amid relaxed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules, which no longer penalize automakers for missing efficiency targets.

To lay out a handful of examples on the table (The full list is below), sales of the Porsche Taycan grew 23.6% year-over-year to 1,672 units in Q4. Tesla sold a whopping 92,460 units of its popular Model Y crossover during the same period, which represents 8.1% growth. And sales of the Cadillac Escalade IQ grew 211.2% to 2,085 units.

“The common thread among the Q4 growers is that premium buyers were far less dependent on the $7,500 federal tax credit,” Stephanie Valdez-Streaty, the Director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive, told me in an email. “While most EVs saw sales drop significantly, some new or recently refreshed, higher‑end models held firm, suggesting shoppers in the premium segment weren’t chasing incentives,” she added.

In some cases, it’s easy to see why that happened. Production of the Escalade IQ was still ramping up at the end of 2024, so higher volumes at the end of 2025 were expected.

But other models grew largely on merit, sweetened by some year-end holiday deals. Porsche gave the Taycan a massive upgrade, adding faster charging speeds and a more energy-dense battery that meaningfully improved its range, things that likely made the car more compelling to buyers on the fence.

The Model Y tells a similar story. Tesla rolled out a mid-cycle refresh with updated styling, improved suspension and better overall engineering. That kept the Model Y the undisputed king of EVs in America last year. The company also continued offering 0% financing through the end of the year, and it still does on the new Standard trims.

With the exception of Tesla, most EVs that grew in Q4 sit firmly in the luxury segment, where buyers are less reliant on incentives and more attracted by the vehicles themselves. Those shoppers kept signing paperwork even as subsidies disappeared. This shouldn’t be too surprising, as if you bought an EV with a sticker price over $80,000 you didn’t get the credit, anyway.

There appears to be a broader lesson here that doesn’t just apply to luxury EVs. If EVs can reach price parity with gas cars and offer compelling technology and real choice, buyers may not need incentives.

That’s why the next wave of EV launches matters so much. More than 30 new or updated EVs are slated to launch in the U.S. in 2026. Many of those are aimed squarely at the lower end of the market, like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt, or at the heart of the market, around $50,000, with the Rivian R2, which will directly challenge the Model Y.

“Overall, the data suggests that strong, new products from strong brands can still grow through policy headwinds, but mostly at the premium end of the market,” Valdez-Streaty said. “It’s long been a truth in the auto industry, new product grows, aged product slows,” she added.

Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com