Electric vehicles don’t drive around with half a bathtub worth of flammable liquid slung beneath the rear seat, but it seems they’re even more likely to present a fire risk. The latest automaker to issue a fire-related recall is Hyundai, which is telling some of its EV owners not to park near other cars or buildings until they’ve had some important repair work done to their cars.

Also: Hyundai’s Fastest Electric Sedan Can Drift And Snarl Like A Gas Car While Hitting 62 In 3.2

The advice – which is easier said than done for people who live anywhere near civilization – applies only to a small number of owners of MY25 Ioniq 5s. Hyundai estimates 10 of the EVs are equipped with batteries whose bus bars weren’t correctly tightened, leading to a risk of a short circuit which could in turn cause a fire.

What Went Wrong

A busbar is a metal strip, usually made from copper or aluminum, that connects the individual cells that make up a battery pack. A neat description from Ennvoi says the battery is the heart of an EV and the busbars are the blood vessels that send electrical current through the car’s various systems.

Hyundai believes a torque tool controller belonging to the Battery System Assembly (BSA) supplier failed, resulting in some bus bars being insufficiently tightened. The error was discovered a routine inspection of battery packs and an audit revealed some of those dodgy batteries has already made their way into delivered cars.

Although no accidents or fires have yet been reported, Hyundai cautions that over time the bus bar retaining bolts could work loose and cause an electrical arcing inside the battery pack. It could also trigger a voltage sensing error that would send the EV into limp mode.

What Affected Owners Should Do

Those 10 rogue Ioniq 5s will need to head back to a dealership to have their bus bar bolts tightened. Hyundai says owners can continue driving until they get the fix, but recommends they think carefully about where they park between now and when they get the all-clear.

Tesla sales are in free-fall and the automaker doesn’t have any genuinely new product on the horizon ready to save the day. Instead, as Elon Musk himself hinted, Tesla is stripping features from the existing Model Y to build a more affordable SUV. Today, we got our first look at the no-frills EV that could cost as little as $36,000.

Also: Tesla’s Bigger Model Y Just Leaked And It’s Packing More Than Extra Legroom

The de-contented Model Y was spied in China where Tesla is facing stiff competition from domestic rivals engaged in a fierce price war. Images show a prototype of the budget Y parked next to a regular version of the SUV featuring the facelifted ‘Juniper’ look that was revealed earlier this year.

Scaling Back the Juniper Touches Inside and Out

But Chinese reports and spy shots suggest some of the key Juniper features, the front light bar and full-width rear light strip, have been cut from the entry-level machine.

There are some important omissions inside, too, where rear-seat passengers might find themselves feeling rather more claustrophobic. And that’s not because there’s less rear space, but because it looks much darker in there. Tesla has junked the panoramic roof to cut costs, replacing it with a simple black panel.

Other features missing from the interior include the 8-inch rear compartment touchscreen and the console found on all other facelifted Model Ys. The new EV does have a console, but it’s split, the portion between the seats ending with a pair of open cupholders just after the armrest.

What’s Still Included, and What Might Not Be

The 15.4-inch touchscreen is still present, and another aspect of the new base car that won’t be simplified, China’s Autohome reports, is the ADAS. We expect the budget Y to come equipped with Autopilot, just like other trims, though whether Tesla will reduce the power and range remains to be seen. America’s current entry-level Model Y, the Long Range RWD does zero to 60 mph (97 kmh) in 5.4 seconds and has an EPA range of 357 miles (575 km).

That LR RWD is available for $37,490 in the US right now, but only thanks to a $7,500 tax credit that is being phased out in September – its MSRP is $44,990. By stripping out some of the luxuries Tesla hopes it can deliver a Model Y at a tax-credit price even after the subsidy has disappeared. Some reports have suggested the price could be a low as $36,000 when it goes on sale in the final few months of 2025.

Geek Piggy/Garage 42 / Weibo

It may be small in size, but Honda’s cute N-One e: prototype made a big splash at this month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed even if it didn’t make a lot of noise in the process. Now, the production version of this pint-sized electric car has made its official debut in Japan.

Related: One Cheap Adapter Unlocks A Huge Perk For Acura And Honda EV Owners

An electric kei microcar, the N-One e: is a slab-sided, high-roof, boxy city car with a friendly robot-like face and tiny wheels that make it look cute and gawky at the same time. Unlike the Goodwood car, which featured fender flares, the Japanese version goes without to ensure it complies with the kei rules that govern everything from external dimensions to power outputs.

Built for Kei Compliance

So although Honda hasn’t revealed much in the way of technical spec, we can be sure it measures less than 3,400 mm (133.9inches) long and produces no more than 63 hp (64 PS / 47 kW) from its single electric motor.

Its electric hardware is almost certainly shared with the taller N-Van e: revealed last year, which Honda claimed could travel 152 miles (245 km) on a charge – the N-One will eke out a few more miles than that. The N-Van accepts 50 kW DC charging, which is slow, but the small battery can be charged in around 30 minutes.

Simple, Practical Interior With Smart Touches

The N-One’s interior looks simple, but not totally basic, and we like the fact that there are plenty of physical buttons and a rotary volume dial on the media screen. The transmission selector on the console looks much like the one on Hondas familiar to us in Europe and the US, and a simple button to the right allows the driver to easily engage a one-pedal mode.

A shelf below the touchscreen provides an obvious place to leave your smartphone within easy reach of the charging port (no wireless charging here) and the rear seats fold flat with a 50:50 split to maximize practicality. But the real headline feature is the V2L function that allows owners to use the N-One to power their homes during outages or other devices like electric bikes or laptops.

V2L Capability Adds Real-World Utility

To use V2L, owners will need to purchase an adaptor from Honda’s accessory catalog, which also includes a dash-top LED indicator to let you know how full the battery is and a sporty cosmetic kit with twin Shelby-style stripes running front to back.

Japanese sales of the N-One begin this September, the same month Honda is expected to give the pint-sized EV its European debut at the IAA in Munich. Sadly, there are no plans to bring the car to the US.

Honda

Electric vehicles have made impressive strides in recent years, but several key design challenges remain. One of the most pressing is how to improve battery packs in a way that enhances both safety and long-term sustainability.

Also: Washington Fire Crews Use Special Blankets To Extinguish EV Fires

We’ve all seen images and videos of EVs being incinerated when their battery packs have caught fire. So if someone tried to tell you that they’d come up with a revolutionary new battery housing that’s made out of wood, well, you’d naturally think they’d inhaled too many combusting lithium cell vapors. But boffins are adamant that, when it comes to EV battery cases, wood is good both for the planet and for safety.

A study carried out at the Technical University of Graz in Austria compared the performance of a conventional underfloor battery housing built with aluminium beams with three different wood-steel hybrid versions. The team wanted to see if it could build a housing that was more environmentally friendly, but required no strength compromises.

Lighter Footprint, Solid Performance

The hybrid beams use sustainable birch, poplar or paulownia cores covered in thin, lightweight steel, giving them a much smaller environmental footprint than those made from aluminium, which is incredibly energy intensive to produce. That much they knew before they’d got to the lab. But it’s the other results that provided the real surprises.

In a critical pile crash test where a vehicle or component is driven into a round steel obstacle at high speed the hybrid Bio!Lib battery housings returned almost exactly the same intrusion values as the aluminum housing of a Tesla Model S. The reason is the wood’s porous cell structure helps it absorb great amounts of energy.

The poplar and birch steel hybrids delivered up to 98 percent more energy absorption than ductile aluminum and 76 percent more than high-strength aluminium under large deformations. All three wood-based versions also showed strong resistance to bending.

Organic fire-resistant material

And with the addition of cork – another renewable material – the study group led by TU Graz’s Florian Feist, was also able to make the housing usefully fire-resistant, returning temperatures on the off-fire side of the unit 100 degrees C (212 F) lower than on a Tesla housing.

“When cork is exposed to very high temperatures, it charses,” explains Florian Feist, who led the study. “The carbonization leads to a sharp drop in the already relatively low thermal conductivity, which protects the structures behind it.”

As electric vehicles become more common, it’s becoming clearer that their environmental impact goes beyond the absence of tailpipe emissions. While a wood-based battery case might seem unlikely, research like this highlights how smarter material choices could help EVs better deliver on their clean energy potential.

Scottsdale, like cities all over the world, has got an e-bike problem as innocent pedestrians and the riders themselves are getting hurt in accidents involving electric bikes and motorcycles. The Arizona city has had enough of it, so it’s brought in multiple new rules designed to limit their use and hopefully cut down on injuries.

More: NYC Plans To Slash E-Bike And Scooter Top Speeds To A Jogger’s Pace

Starting July 1, anyone wanting to use an electric motorcycle on a city roadway has to have it titled and registered with the Sate of Arizona. That will be bad news to the city’s kids, some of whom have been roaming wild on off-road-intended bikes like the Sur Ron Lightbee without any license, registration or insurance, which is now compulsory.

Age Restrictions and Speed Limits

And the new legislation doesn’t stop there. Under the terms of Ordinance No. 4680 no one under the age of 16 is allowed to ride a class three electric bicycle, which is defined as one capable of going 21 mph (34 km/h) or faster. They will, however, still be able to ride class one electric bikes whose top speed is lower than that.

Dr. Anthony Pickett at Phoenix Children’s Hospital told Arizona’s Family that an increasing number of children are being injured on electric bikes and motorcycles – and they’re not just getting bruises or breaking a leg.

“The lion’s share [of injuries] unfortunately are pretty severe head injuries,” Dr Pickett said, going on to explain that it’s not only the risk of conventional traffic accidents that riders face, but other factors such as unseen potholes or a dog running out. Those dangers are amplified because e-bikes and electric motorcycles tend to be traveling faster than conventional pedal cycles, and the riders aren’t always wearing helmets.

Retailer Responsibilities and Enforcement

Bike shops must now fix a permanent label to any new class three bike sold making its status clear, and removing it is illegal. They also have to post a written notice explaining the new rules to potential customers.

Whether these changes will significantly alter behavior remains to be seen. They’ll certainly deter some riders, but not all because the violation is classed as a petty offense and carries a $100 fine as a result. It is a start, though, and if at first it doesn’t work, maybe penalties will get much harsher.

A year or two ago, Mercedes seemed confident that American luxury buyers were ready to embrace its new line of electric vehicles. That confidence hasn’t translated into sales. Mercedes’ luxury electric vehicle experiment has proved a flop in the US, and now the company has lopped thousands of dollars off the prices of its EQ EVs to get stock moving.

Related: Mercedes EV Sales Are In Freefall, EQS Down More Than 50%

The discounts range from just over $4,000 to more than $15,000 on the EQE and EQS sedans and SUVs, which sales figures show American buyers haven’t taken to. Mercedes is offering a $9,950 saving on the EQE sedan, whose price falls from $76,050 including destination to $66,100, and a big $12,950 off its utility brother. The EQE SUV originally cost $79,050, but you can now bag one for $66,100.

Some of the Biggest Price Cuts Yet

The smallest savings to be had are on the EQS sedan, whose $105,550 price has dropped by $4,150 to $101,400. But the EQS SUV, which previously cost more than the sedan ($106,400), is now just $91,100, saving interested parties a massive $15,300, according to a story from CarBuzz containing prices since verified by Mercedes.

At the same time as it’s cutting prices to clear existing stock, Mercedes says it has stopped taking orders for all four EQE and EQS cars and SUVs, and that its Alabama plant, where the SUVs are built will stop producing US-market versions of the vehicles from September 1. It will, however, continue to build them for other markets.

Closing the order book and shutting production was the result of Mercedes wanting to “align with customer and market demand,” a spokesperson for the automaker told Car and Driver. “We are unable to share a timeline for when U.S. order banks for these models will reopen for competitive reasons,” they added.

What’s Next for Mercedes EVs in the US?

This isn’t the end of the EQ story in the US, though. The company’s all-new CLA electric sedan comes to America later in 2025 and will be followed within the next couple of years by a pair of SUVs built around the same MMA platform.

The electric GLC SUV, due to make its debut in Munich this September, and confirmed for production in Alabama, will also land in US showrooms in 2026, and the electric G-class remains on sale, though sales for that have also proved disappointing.

European car buyers will still have the freedom to choose between combustion and electric vehicles until 2035, when the EU’s planned ban on new gas-powered cars takes effect. But a new report suggests that anyone renting vehicles might not enjoy the same freedoms.

Related: VW And Audi Could Keep Selling ICE Models In Europe Beyond 2033

The European Commission is working on plans to prevent rental companies and large corporations from buying ICE-powered cars from 2030, according to German media. Agencies like Europcar and Sixt would only be allowed to buy electric cars to replace de-fleeted hire cars, Bild says it learned from unnamed Commission sources.

Electric Only for Renters by 2032?

Assuming that most rental cars only last one or two years on a company’s fleet, this could mean renters would have no choice but to take an electric car from 2032 and possibly earlier. Although rental firms do already offer electric cars, they are more expensive to hire and less popular than combustion cars. They have also proved expensive for rental companies to repair.

If the proposal becomes law and extends to large corporations as well as rental businesses, it could also work to effectively fast-track the EU’s 2035 ban on combustion cars. Sales to rental companies make up around a fifth of all new car registrations in Europe, and fleet sales overall account for around 60 percent.

This could result in far fewer new combustion cars being sold after 2030, and far fewer combustion cars hitting the used market in the years after, limiting used buyers’ options. And who’d be surprised if automakers rationalized their ICE ranges before 2035 because it became no longer economically viable to make as many versions without the huge bulk of fleet orders to justify the production costs?

That could also be bad news for automaker workers who are already facing a future where there will be fewer jobs.

Commission Keeps Details Under Wraps

While the EU confirmed to Bild’s reporters that it was working on new regulations concerning the sale of cars in the bloc, it declined to share specifics that would verify the reported 2030 cut-off for ICE fleet purchases.

Lead image Kia

Tesla still commands a 40+ percent share of the US EV market, but demand is down 11 percent Jan-June, and it’s not only declining new car sales that are causing alarm. The brand also dominates a list of the used cars whose value is dropping hardest.

Related: Tesla Suddenly Wants You To Buy Now After Years Of Opposing EV Credits

The Elon Musk-headed automaker bagged four spaces in the top 10 list of biggest losers collated by the data crunchers at iSeeCars, and a fourth Tesla also found its way onto the chart.

Including one other brand’s value-shedding model, EVs accounted for five of the 10 cars judged to have shed the biggest percentage of their value in 10 months. And that’s despite electric vehicles only accounting for 3.3 percent of the 1- to 5-year-old used market.

Tesla Tops the List of Falling Used Car Values

The study found the Model S suffered the biggest percentage price drop – though not the biggest dollar drop. The sedan’s average price in June 2025 was $46,700, which is 15.8 percent or $8,800 lower than it was 12 months earlier.

The Model X SUV actually lost more money – $9,500 – but due to its higher initial price, that drop only represented a 15.5 percent fall, putting it in second place. Third spot went to the Model Y, which fell $4,600 or 13.6 percent, probably in part due to the arrival of a facelifted version of the SUV this spring.

TOP 10 USED CAR PRICE DROPS

The Model 3’s value slid 9.4 percent, putting it in sixth spot, behind the fourth-place Ford Explorer hybrid (down 10 percent) and Jeep Gladiator (fifth place, down 9.6 percent). And Porsche’s Taycan lost 7 percent of its value, earning it eighth place, meaning all five of the EVs on the list lost far more than the average EV, whose value fell by 4.8 percent.

Sandwiched between the Model 3 and the Taycan is the Maserati Levante (seventh place, down 7.9 percent), and the top 10 is rounded out by the Chrysler Voyager (ninth, down 6.6 percent) and Lincoln Aviator (tenth, down 5.9 percent).

Used EV Values Lag Behind the Market

All five EVs on the list fell significantly more than the average for used electric vehicles, which dropped just 4.8 percent. By contrast, used internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles actually gained in value slightly, up 5.2 percent on average over the same 12-month period.

The study appears to show that American consumers are less interested in EVs as used cars, and that sentiment is likely to carry over into future years as this September’s scrapping of EV tax credits begins to take effect and the ripples are felt in the used market.

For many drivers curious about switching to electric vehicles, battery longevity remains one of the most common sticking points. Despite new EVs all coming with long battery warranties, concerns about range degradation still put some potential buyers off. A recent long-term study involving a Volkswagen EV, however, suggests those fears may be less grounded than expected.

More: EV Batteries May Last Up To 40% Longer Than Expected

In test carried out by the ADAC, Germany’s equivalent to America’s AAA and the UK’s AA, a VW ID.3’s electric range had hardly changed after four years and 107,000 miles (172,000 km). The Golf-sized hatchback lost just eight miles (13 km) of range over the course of the experiment.

Real-World Battery Health After 100K+ Miles

At the outset of the test the ID.3 Pro S Tour’s 77 kWh battery delivered 272 miles (438 km) of real-world range against a claimed 326 WLTP miles (525 km). Four years laterm it was still capable of travelling 264 true miles (425 km) before needing to stop at a charging station.

And it’s not like the ADAC team treated it with kid gloves. Against automaker advice, which suggests never charging to 100 percent unless necessary so as to help prolong the battery’s lifespan, the drivers almost always charged it to full, and often left the car parked with the battery fully charged, another supposed no-no.

Independent battery checks carried out through the course of the test showed that the battery was at 96 percent after 13,500 miles (21,800 km) when the first measurement was taken, had dropped to 94 percent at 52,400 miles (84,300 km), and was still holding on to 91 percent of its capacity at 105,500 miles (169,700 km). VW’s warranty only kicks in if the battery health falls below 70 percent.

A Software Update With Real Benefits

And best of all, the EV’s efficiency actually improved over that time. At the outset it was returning 3.11 mi/kWh (20 kWh per 100 km), but by the end of the test it could achieve 3.4 mi/kWh (18.3 kWh per 100 km). The secret behind those gains was a software update the ID.3 received, which helped makes the reduction in range far less severe than it would have been otherwise for the same amount of battery degradation.

“The result shows the impressive quality of our ID. models even after covering many kilometres,” said Martin Sander, Member of the Volkswagen Board of Management for Sales, Marketing, and After Sales. “A high battery capacity of over 90 per cent after 172,000 kilometres confirms that our ID. models are also very attractive as used cars and continue to meet the requirements of our customers.”

Another big win related to charging speed. Before the update ADAC’s ID.3 charged at 125 kW, but after it was inhaling 160 kW, cutting two minutes from the 10-80 percent charge time. The message is clear: don’t put off EV software updates the way you do phone ones, and don’t stress over buying a used VW EV.

JLR was stung by its experience selling the unreliable Jaguar i-Pace and is determined to get its next EVs right. And there are plenty of them on the way – the brand has promised to launch six electric models by 2026. The first of those is the full-size Range Rover EV, which goes on sale later this year, but the electric Velar won’t be far behind.

Expected to make its debut in spring 2026 as a MY27 SUV, the Velar is currently hot-lapping Germany’s 12.9-mile (20.8-km) Nurburgring track in prototype form, having last been scooped by our spy photo team in snowy Arctic conditions back in February.

Related: 2027 Range Rover Velar EV Is Coming For The Macan Electric

Although no one at Land Rover really expects buyers to hit the Ring, these testing sessions are crucial to finding out how the chassis and brakes handle the heft of a battery pack that’s got to be around 100 kWh (like the Macan) in capacity, and thus, not exactly featherweight, and whether the electric setup can survive extreme use.

Disguise on the rear end still has us wondering whether Land Rover will junk the Velar’s rear window, but we can at least make out the slim LED lights front and rear, narrow window aperture in the side view and a set of wide fender lips. The doors also appear to have switched to a frameless glass design to enhance the coupe feel.

The profile isn’t hugely different to the current combustion Velar’s but the EV is all-new under the skin, where you’ll find the company’s new EMA architecture. Not even the $150,000+ Range Rover EV gets this advanced platform, which allows over-air updates and could allow charging speeds higher than the 270 kW its rival from Stuttgart can swallow.

Other electric Land Rovers destined to use the EMA building blocks include the next Evoque and a baby Defender that is likely to replace today’s Discovery Sport. JLR said in 2023 that EMA would be electric-only, but we wouldn’t be surprised if that policy has changed given the slowdown in EV takeup in some key countries, including the US. In any case, even if it has switched plans to include hybrid tech, it hasn’t announced anything just yet.

SHProshots

Porsche has already set plenty of speed records with its EVs, including a 1 minute 33.8-second lap of Road Atlanta achieved last month by a Taycan Turbo GT. But the latest ride from Weissach to set a record did it while moving around half as quickly as that Taycan – just 57 mph.

The record-setting EV in this case wasn’t a Taycan or any Porsche electric road car, but it is equipped with the same duel-motor powertrain you’ll find in the brand’s Macan Turbo Electric. It’s the Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom sports boat and it just wasted a field of rivals at the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge.

Related: Porsche’s Latest EV Is A $600,000 Boat With A 536 HP Macan Turbo Powertrain

Measuring 8.67 m (341.3 inches) long, the wheelless Porsche is the result of a joint venture between the Stuttgart sports car company and Austrian boat builder Frausche. It pairs the hull shape of Frausche’s 858 Fantom with the motor setup and battery from the hottest Macan EV.

Compared with the SUV, which claims 577 hp (584 PS / 430 kW) in normal use and up to 630 hp (639 PS / 470 kW) with launch control overboost, the boat is slightly less potent. It makes 536 hp (544 PS / 400 kW), and while the Macan can hit 162 mph (260 km/h), the boat maxes at around 56 mph (90 km/h / 49 kn) in Sport Plus mode. That’s what Porsche’s spec panel says, at least, though the Fantom averaged 57 mph (92 km/h / 50 kn) in the Monaco race which takes an average of two 1 km (0.6 miles) runs.

Range is another area in which the boat has to give second best to the Macan. It’s good for just 62 miles (100 km) at slow speed and 28 miles (45 km) at its optimal 26 mph (41 kmh / 22 kn) cruising speed, whereas the SUV can go for 367 miles (590 km) per the WLTP cycle.

The record-setting Oakgreen Metallic Fantom was what Frausche calls a Runabout, meaning it has a classic look with the close foredeck and cabin below. But buyers also have the option of speccing the boat in Air configuration, which brings a center-mounted wheel and open lounge area at the front. It looks stunning but so it should: at €571k ($664k) it costs around five times more than a Macan Turbo Electric.

Porsche

The Trump administration could end EV tax credits as soon as September, but one nation that killed off its subsidy scheme three years ago is now reversing course with a fresh round of support for buyers. The British government is stepping in with renewed financial help to make electric cars more appealing.

Related: Would You Buy An EV After The US Tax Credit Expires?

Car buyers in the UK will soon be eligible for discounts of up to 10 percent on new EVs costing no more than £37,000 ($49,700). The exact terms of the grant have yet to be released by the British Labour government, but the discounts will range from £1,500 ($2,000) to £3,750 ($5,000), depending on how green the vehicle is.

Backed by a Three-Year Investment Plan

The new scheme will run for three years, the money coming from a £650 million ($874 m) pot. Separately, the government announced it would spend £63 million ($85 m) investing in EV chargers to help answer one of the main reasons car buyers give for not switching to electric power, besides the higher price of EVs relative to combustion vehicles, BBC News says.

Vehicles tend to be more expensive in the UK than in the US, so that £37k limit makes plenty of fairly ordinary EVs ineligible for financial aid. While small cars like the Dacia Spring, Renault 5, Vauxhall Frontera Electric, and Kia EV3 will all qualify for the grant, even the most basic Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Tesla Model 3 are too pricey to meet the threshold. But the government claims 33 EVs currently on sale are priced at £30,000 ($40,000) or less.

A Proven Strategy, Revisited

The UK’s original EV grant, which offered discounts of up to £7,500 ($10,000), was very successful at driving electric sales. It was so effective, in fact, that the Conservative government axed it in 2022, claiming it had done its job.

EV sales are stronger in Britain than in some neighbouring European countries, but they still only accounted for 22 percent of car sales in the first half of 2025, well below the 28 percent target set by the government, Bloomberg reports. The UK has pledged to ban combustion vehicles by 2030, and it looks like it’s not going to be ready for that switchover.

Carmakers, who have been struggling to hit EV sales quotas set by the government, and in some cases have been artificially restricting the sales of combustion models to avoid being hit by fines, will be pleased to hear news of the grant scheme. And we predict some will tweak their model lineups to allow certain EVs that currently cost slightly more than £37k to dip below that mark.

Lead image Vauxhall

New data has revealed the winners and losers in America’s EV market, and they make worrying reading. Some of the brands behind the best-known electric cars and SUVs have watched demand halve over the last six months.

Related: Sales Of Honda’s Only American EV Soar 963%

Before we get to naming and shaming, though, we ought to mention the overall number of EVs sold in January to June. Americans bought 607,100 electric vehicles in the first half of the year, which is up on the 597,800 sold in the same period last year, but only just. It works out as a meager 1.5 percent increase, and worryingly, the Q2 figures are down 6.3 percent, according to figures from Cox Automotive.

Tesla Model 3 Climbs as Model Y Slips

Among the top performers, Tesla’s Model 3 showed impressive growth, climbing nearly 38 percent year-over-year to 101,323 units sold. This uptick helped offset losses elsewhere in the lineup, including the Model Y, which still held the top spot with 150,171 units sold despite a 24 percent drop.

New entries like the Chevrolet Equinox EV also made a strong showing, launching straight into the top five with 27,749 deliveries in its first half-year. These results suggest buyers are increasingly looking beyond the most familiar badges for value and newer tech.

Elsewhere in the top ten, the Ford Mustang Mach-E held steady with a slight 2 percent dip, while the Hyundai Ioniq 5 nudged upward by 1.9 percent. Honda’s Prologue recorded a remarkable 963 percent increase, with 16,317 units sold compared to just over 1,500 the previous year, though it only went on sale in late March of 2024. GM’s momentum was also visible in the strong performances of the Blazer EV (up 76 percent) and Silverado EV (up 67 percent).

Ford also claimed the top spot for best-selling electric pickup, with 13,029 units of the F-150 Lightning sold despite a notable 16.7% decline. It was followed by Tesla’s Cybertruck, which recorded 10,712 units, 7.3% fewer than in the first half of 2024.

US EV SALES BY MODEL JAN-JUN

Tough Times for Legacy Luxury and Familiar Faces

But while a few standout models helped push overall EV sales up by a modest 1.5 percent, that headline number masks a much rougher reality for many brands. Kia’s EV sales, for instance, fell 54 percent to 13,600: deliveries of the EV6 and EV9 virtually halved, and Niro EV sales fell 68 percent. And Kia wasn’t the only one hurting in H1.

Demand for Mercedes EVs collapsed by 55 percent and it would have been much worse if not for the little EQB. Not that the EQB exactly had people rushing to dealerships, you understand. Its sales were down 8 percent, but compared to the EQE (down 75 percent) and EQS (-80 percent) it was a solid gold hit.

Rivian also had a rough first half of 2025, its overall sales falling 30 percent and the R1T dropping 47 percent, versus a 29 percent decline for its R1S SUV brother. Tesla, meanwhile, was down 11 percent and can thank the 38 percent increase in Model 3 sales for offsetting the lack of interest in its other models, including the Cybertruck, whose sales plummeted by 51 percent in the Q2. Tesla does, however, still command a whopping 46 percent of the EV market.

US EV SALES BY BRAND JAN-JUN

Other losers include the Audi Q4 e-tron (down 39 percent), Genesis G80 Electrified (down 45 percent) and BMW i5 (down 30 percent).

There were, of course, some winners in Cox’s data set. The overall EV sales count was helped by the arrival of some new models that proved incredibly popular with buyers, such as the Honda Prologue, and successful facelifts of existing cars like the Tesla mentioned previously and Hyundai Ioniq 5. GM’s Ultium SUVs also performed strongly.

Despite these few bright spots, the EV market does not look healthy, and with tax credits set to run out in just a couple of months, automakers are going to have their work cut out trying to turn it around.

US EV SALES BY BRAND Q2

US EV SALES BY MODEL Q2

When we first laid eyes on it, we didn’t give the Nissan N7 the kindest of receptions, calling it a straight-up copy of the Xpeng P7. As it turns out, Chinese buyers clearly didn’t have a problem with its looks; they voted with their wallets and made the N7 the most popular foreign-brand car model last month.

Also: Toyota’s New Electric Flagship Sedan Takes A Shot At Tesla Model S

The N7 sedan scored 6,189 sales in June in a tight battle where the top three models were closely matched, and everyone else was two laps behind, so to speak. Buick’s GL8 New energy minivan was right on the N7’s tail, eventually recording 6,082 sales, while Toyota’s bargain-priced Platinum 3X, also known as the bZ3X, found 6,030 buyers.

Tight Competition at the Top

Trailing well behind in fourth place was Volkswagen’s ID.3 with 3,950 sales, according to data from China’s Autohome, and there was another big drop to the fifth-placed Smart #1, which 2,324 buyers took home. BMW’s i3, an electric sedan similar in shape to the N7, proved far less popular. Only 2,270 people snapped up one of those in June.

Though the Maxima-sized N7 wears Nissan badges it’s actually the result of a joint venture between the struggling Japanese company and China’s Dongfeng, and shares components with Dongfeng eπ 007. For a tempting 129,900 yuan, or roughly $17,800, the base N7 510 Pro comes with a 58 kWh LFP battery claims 317 miles (510 km) of range on the Chinese CLTC cycle.

CHINA’S FOREIGN BRAND BEST SELLERS

At the other end of the scale, the N7 625 Max features a much fuller list of standard equipment and a 73 kWh battery that claims a 388-mile (625 km) range. Bear in mind, though, that this is according to China’s testing standards, so take the range claims with a large pinch of salt.

More: Chevrolet’s Latest Electric SUV Has A Secret Chinese Twin

Power output varies by trim. Buyers can choose between 215 hp (218 PS / 160 kW) or 268 hp (272 PS / 200 kW), with pricing and performance adjusted accordingly. Demographics for the N7 skew young and family-oriented: 68 percent of buyers are men, 74 percent are married, and 60 percent are under 35, according to figures released by Nissan.

Currently, the N7 is a China-only model, but Nissan has already confirmed it’s exploring international markets. A global launch could be on the table under a different name, potentially reviving the old Primera badge. Just don’t expect to see it on American roads anytime soon.

Nissan

If you’ve driven an EV you’ll have an opinion on regenerative braking. Some drivers prefer next to none, saying they plan ahead and think allowing the car to sail on when you lift off the gas is better for efficiency. Others love one-pedal mode, where the regen effect is so strong you barely need to touch the brakes at all, but new rules announced in China suggest regulators there aren’t one-pedal fans.

Related: Volvo Warns 12,000 Owners To Halt One Pedal Driving Immediately

A new national standard for passenger cars has just been introduced in China and it has implications for EV drivers who love to do all of their going and slowing using just their right foot. Under the terms of GB 21670-2025, drivers must not be able to set their EVs to a default mode that can bring a car to a complete stop simply by lifting off the gas pedal, though it seems the function isn’t being outlawed altogether.

Safety Concerns Take Priority Over Efficiency

The legislation has nothing to do with improving the driving range of the nation’s EVs, and is more focused on improving safety, according to a report from China’s The Paper. You might reasonably think that one-pedal mode is safer because it cuts out the delay between lifting your foot off the throttle and placing it on the brake pedal.

However, studies have shown that drivers can become so reliant on the regenerative braking effect delivered when lifting off that they develop a delayed reaction in applying the brake pedal in emergency situations when more braking force is needed than the regen alone can provide.

New Rules on Brake Lights and ABS

The laws governing one-pedal mode don’t come into force until January 1, 2027, but some other changes announced as part of the same safety standard become compulsory 12 months earlier, including one that might raise eyebrows.

From next year, new EVs brake lights must illuminate when deceleration caused by energy recovery exceeds 1.3 m/s². This addresses a common concern among drivers following behind EVs, who might not realize a car is slowing significantly without conventional brake light cues.

Also joining the list of must-haves: anti-lock braking systems, which will become mandatory on new EVs in China from 2026. That’s relatively late compared to other markets, as ABS became compulsory in the US in 2011 and in the EU back in 2004.

We’ve been hearing a lot about how tough the Chinese market is for long-established brands that are familiar to us in the West. Automakers like VW, Porsche and Mercedes have all suffered big sales slides in China, but Toyota has proved that’s it’s still possible to beat the increasingly competitive domestic brands at their own game.

Also: How Toyota’s $15K EV Ended Up Costing $48K In Its First Export Market

The bZ3X is an electric SUV built by a joint venture between Toyota and China’s GAC and it’s been selling like crazy following its debut four months ago. More than 200,000 examples have been delivered since March, GAC Toyota wrote on China’s Weibo social media platform, and the company also mentioned it had received over 30,000 orders.

A Price That Turns Heads

So how did Toyota manage to win where many other legacy brands have failed? One reason is the bZ3X’s incredibly competitive sticker. Prices for the electric SUV start at 109,800 yuan, or roughly $15,000 at current exchange rates. That makes it less than half the price of the GAC Toyota Highlander, which starts at 284,800 yuan ($39,300), and also undercuts the 171,800 yuan ($23,700) Camry.

Naturally, you’re not getting a fully-loaded, long-range EV for for your $15k, though versions with Lidar-based ADAS are available. The base bZ3X, the 430 Air, comes with a small 50 kWh battery that’s rated at 267 miles (430 km) on the generous Chinese CTLC cycle, but probably only offers 200 miles (320 km) of real range.

For a few yuan more, the 430 Air+ adds extra equipment but retains the base model’s battery, and the 58 kWh 520 Pro and Pro+ stretch the range to 323 miles (520 km) while still using the same single 201 hp (204 PS / 150 kW) electric motor as the lower-tier versions.

More: Toyota’s New Electric Flagship Sedan Takes A Shot At Tesla Model S

Top of the tree is the 610 Max, which gets a bump to 221 hp (224 PS / 165 kW) and promises 379 miles (610 km) of range from its 68 kWh pack. But even that flagship trim will only set you back ¥159,800 (~$22,000).

Momentum Beyond a Single Model

The bZ3X isn’t the only GAC Toyota performing well in China. The joint venture’s total sales reached 364,218 in the first six months of 2025, and importantly they were up 5.6 percent, making the company one of the few similar collabs to make gains.

Camry sales were up 66 percent to 20,358 in June, Ziniu News reports, and the company’s Saina minivan registered 8,846 deliveries in the first half of the year, up 16 percent.

GAC Toyota

We’re only two months out from the electric GLC’s debut at the Munich Auto Show and Mercedes is on the teaser offensive. As he did with the CLA and electric G-Class, CEO Ola Källenius has taken a camouflaged prototype of the compact SUV for a spin and dropped a couple of interesting spec details in the process.

Related: Mercedes Previews New GLC EV With 320+ kW DC Fast Charging

One detail we now know is that the first model to launch will be called the GLC 400 4Matic with EQ technology, following the (somewhat clunky) trend started by the electric G-Class. Källenius also revealed the 400 can add around 162 miles (260 km) of electric range in just 10 minutes thanks to its ability to charge at over 320 kW.

800v Architecture and Practical Charging Solutions

Mercedes itself dropped some other factoids, including that a converter allows the 800-volt SUV to hook-up at more common 400-volt charging stations. Surprisingly, that was not possible with the first examples of the new CLA sedan, though a fix for them is in the works.

Källenius performs a standing start in the GLC, and while he doesn’t give out power or performance figures, he implies that the acceleration is the kind that you’d expect from a Mercedes-AMG GT, which suggests a sub-4-second zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) time.

Design Cues With Classic Inspiration

When it comes to the front-end design however, the CEO reckons the GLC takes its lead from much older Mercedes models. He waxes lyrical about the huge grille on a classic 300SEL 6.3 and claims we’ll see elements of the same design when the covers come off the GLC in September.

“It’s a future techy interpretation of that iconic Mercedes style,” he says of the new car’s grille.

The SEL isn’t only on hand to drop styling clues, but to demonstrate the GLC’s towing ability. Mercedes says it can tow a 5,300 lbs (2,400 kg) braked trailer, which betters the Porsche Macan Electric’s tow rating by 880 lbs (400 kg).

Roomier Cabin and Smarter Suspension

Interior packaging has also seen some changes. Mercedes confirmed the GLC EQ’s wheelbase is 3.2 inches (80 mm) longer than the 113.7 inches (2,890 mm) of the current combustion GLC, which is good news for rear-seat passengers, and there’s more luggage space, too.

The trunk swallows 20.1 cu-ft (570 liters), which is 0.7 cu-ft (20 liters) more than the ICE SUV, and can be extended to 61.5 cu-ft (1,740 liters) with the seats folded. And there’s still 4.5 cu-ft (128 liters) of frunk space to add to that.

The new GLC will feature air springs for maximum ride comfort, though only as part of an optional Agility & Comfort Package that also includes 4.5 degrees of rear-axle steering. Both of those tech solutions are also available on the Porsche Macan Electric, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the two fare in the – inevitable – face-off next year.

Mercedes

Trump’s tariffs might be a major headache for European automakers shipping cars to the US, but they’re not the cause of a temporary pause in exports of the electric ID. Buzz, Volkswagen of America claims.

The automaker was responding to a story that appeared in European media claiming Trump’s decision to increase the tariffs on German exports from 2.5 percent to 27.5 percent forced VW to halt US deliveries.

Related: VW Warns Nearly 17,000 Owners To Stop Using Passenger Seat

“Not true,” a Volkswagen spokesperson told Carscoops when asked about the report in the German publication Handelsblatt. “Volkswagen of America temporarily held ID. Buzz vehicles at the port of Emden while resolving issues related to the stop sale. These vehicles are moving again, with several hundred currently on a ship. To clarify, the pause at Emden only affected East Coast-bound vehicles—we continued shipping ID. Buzzes to the West Coast throughout.”

The “stop sale” notice was issued in May when VW announced a recall for 5,644 ID. Buzz EVs because the rear seats were too wide. Yes, while you’d think Americans would be more likely to complain about seats being too narrow, the folks at the NHTSA decided that the rearmost seats on the Buzz were too generous.

There are only two seatbelts in the back but legislators reckoned the bench was wide enough to encourage a third, unbelted person to try squeezing themselves in there. VW’s remedy was to place unpadded bits of trim on the bench to reduce the size of the seating area and all of the EVs exported to the US in future will have a narrower rear seat.

Having to stop all sales of a vehicle is never good, but if ever there was a convenient time to do it, this period of tariff hell was it. While the UK has negotiated a trade deal with the US that allows the likes of Land Rover to escape with 10 percent tariffs, the EU has yet to finalize something similar, meaning its automakers’ exports are still subject to a 27.5 percent duty. VW builds US-market ID. 4s in Chattanooga, but the Buzz is manufactured in Hanover, Germany.

The Buzz is also shaping up to be far less of a sales hit than VW hoped. Having talked up the prospects of 40,000 US sales annually at one point, it’s going to struggle to hit 10k this year – in fact, it delivered just 564 in Q2. The ID. Buzz looks great, but its $61,545 starting price seems expensive and its 234-mile (377 km) range poor compared with what other EVs like the Kia EV9 offer for the same money or less. Other gripes include the stylish retro two-tone paint being restricted to upper trim level (or a $995 option on the entry-level model) and VW’s failure to launch Europe’s panel van version in the US.

Some industry watchers believe VW simply took too long launching the Buzz, having first showed a retro bus back in 2001. Perhaps if the model had come sooner, and with a combustion (possibly hybridized) engine, it might have been a better fit for mainstream America.

Carscoops

Lead image VW

BMW’s M division isn’t the only automaker injecting new energy into the performance wagon segment. So is its big rival from Affalterbach, Mercedes-AMG, as these shots of the new CLA 45 shooting brake show.

We’ve already spotted the sedan version of the AMG CLA 45 EV multiple times, plus wagon-bodied, non-AMG variants of the combustion CLA. But this is our first sighting of the hot EV with the long-roof body.

Related: The Baby AMG EV Just Got Real With Three Motors And A Secret Weapon

All of those cars, plus some SUV-shaped spin-offs our spy photo teams have yet to track down, are built on the same versatile platform that’s capable of handling combustion and electric powertrains. Hottest of the lot are the 45 EV versions of each body style, which are believed to get a triple-motor setup that delivers at least 500 hp (507 PS / 373 kW).

But it looks like the torque-vectoring motors aren’t the only thing the wagon has in common with its notchback brother. We’ve spied a deployable spoiler on CLA sedan prototypes, but now Mercedes has, ahem, extended the courtesy to the wagon.

The wing at the top of the load lugger’s rear hatch doesn’t look as big as the one on the sedan – which is rumoured to double as an airbrake – or appear to extend as far into the airflow, but there’s no doubt that it’s an active, rather than passive aero device.

We’d normally only expect to see the wing extended at freeway speeds, so perhaps the test driver has pressed a button to manually raise it in this case, or has a track-type mode selected where the wing is permanently poking above the roof.

Other giveaways that we’re looking at the AMG variant of the CLA wagon include the monobloc brake callipers behind the forged alloy wheels at the front. And the blanked grille and lack of tailpipes tell us it’s definitely an EV, though we expect AMG to deliver combustion versions of the CLA, too.

Exactly what engine will power those ICE models remains to be seen. A recent report claimed AMG was ditching the unpopular four-cylinder hybrid engine in the C63, and suggested the entire M139 2.0 engine family, including non-PHEV versions, would be phased out. That could mean the next ICE CLA 45 will get a warmed-over version of the 1.5-liter hybrid powertrain coming to non-AMG CLAs.

Baldauf

What a difference a couple of years can make. In 2023, Tesla was crushing it in Europe, the Model Y was on its way to becoming the first ever EV to top the continent’s year-end best sellers league table, and VW announced it was pausing production of the ID.3 and its Cupra Born electric twin due to slow sales. But just two years later, Volkswagen is reveling in a surge of EV demand that has helped it overtake its American rival.

Related: Tesla’s European Sales Bloodbath Continues, But One Country Is Over Hating Musk

According to the latest figures, the VW Group delivered 4.41 million vehicles of all energy types around the world in January-June, a 1.3 percent increase on 2024’s total. But global BEV sales were up a staggering 47 percent, reaching 465,000 (464,200 if you discount commercial trucks), and in Europe they rocketed by 89 percent to 347,900 deliveries.

Tesla Falls Behind in Europe

Though Tesla hasn’t broken out its European sales figures, it has confirmed that global sales fell 14 percent to 384,000 in the first half of the year. And Dataforce numbers revealed that Tesla had only sold 76,400 units in Europe between January and the end of May, a period in which the core VW brand alone shifted 122,600 EVs. The report says VW tied with Tesla in March’s sales race but trounced it in every other month, selling three times as many cars in April, for example.

Delivering more electric cars is important for VW’s image as it continues to put distance between itself and the Dieselgate scandal that keeps coming back to life via various ongoing court cases. And it’s also crucial if VW is to meet the EU’s draconian CO2 fleet limits.

VW GROUP EV SALES

But VW’s sales success is the result of discount campaigns on cars like the ID.3 hatch, Handelsblatt cautions, and that is putting pressure on Wolfsburg’s bottom line. A senior VW exec told Handelsblatt the company is still making money on its EVs, but that the operating margin is below the 6.5 percent return target it has set for 2029.

VW is hoping its new range of affordable EVs on sale from next year, including the ID.2 and Cupra Raval, will help improve the health of those margins.

VW GROUP EV SALES BY BRAND