VW ID. Polo EV buyers could wait 10 months for delivery, German media says.
More than 30,000 orders landed before customers could even take a test drive.
The related Skoda Epiq and Cupra Raval are also experiencing strong demand.
Waiting an eternity for delivery of a new Ferrari or special Porsche is to be expected. But waiting almost a year for a Volkswagen Polo? That’s reportedly what some buyers of the new electric ID. Polo face after demand for VW’s affordable EV blew past expectations.
VW’s order books have already swallowed more than 30,000 European ID. Polo orders, despite customers initially having to commit without seeing the car at a dealership, let alone taking a test drive, according to German media.
“The entire ID. Polo range is sold out. The waiting time is at least ten months,” the head of a major VW dealer group told Automobilwoche.
That makes ordering a bespoke ID. Polo potentially more patience-testing than ordering something vastly more exotic. McLaren Palm Beach, for instance, says a factory-ordered McLaren can take anywhere from “eight weeks to six months,” although it cautions that exact delivery dates can’t be guaranteed.
Order Today, Get It June 2027
Of course nobody is genuinely cross-shopping an ID. Polo and a McLaren. One costs €24,995 ($32,400 / £23,945) and the other around 10 times as much. But the comparison highlights how unusual a 10-month queue is for a mainstream small car.
VW says it’s now increasing output at its Martorell factory in Spain, though customers unwilling to wait may find pre-configured cars sitting at dealerships. A dealer told Automobilwochethat cars ordered now might not arrive until May or June of 2027.
Same Platform, Similar Wait Times
And the VW brand isn’t alone in having this particular problem. Sister company Skoda has reportedly collected more than 35,000 orders for its related Epiq (above), while dealers say Cupra’s Raval (below) is also booked out for months. Both share their single-motor, front-wheel drive MEB+ hardware with the ID. Polo, and are also built at Martorell. All three are part of the VW Group’s plan to bring EV prices closer to traditional combustion-powered small cars in an effort to fend off Chinese opposition.
The related ID. Cross SUV is also reportedly attracting plenty of early interest too, while the facelifted ID.3 Neo is facing waits of two to three months. That’s all good news for VW, and boy could it use some right now. It’s cutting 100,000 workers, shutting multiple plants, and looks likely to kill off the Seat brand after 2030 in an effort to turn around its fortunes.
Ford chiefs think Fathom’s appeal to both gas and EV drivers will help it reach 100k sales.
Automaker spent $2 billion transforming Louisville Assembly for radical production process.
Cheaper Slate Truck rival undercuts Ford but sacrifices many everyday creature comforts.
Ford isn’t setting modest goals for its $30,000 Fathom electric pickup. The automaker reportedly expects to sell more than 100,000 during its first year, a number no individual EV from anyone besides Tesla has managed in America.
That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which spoke to Ford insiders about the automaker’s ambitious sales target. If buyers turn up in the numbers Ford expects, the little four-door truck would immediately become one of America’s biggest-selling EVs.
For perspective, GM sold almost 170,000 EVs in 2025, but needed three brands and multiple models to do it. Tesla remains in another league, shifting around 357,000 Model Ys and more than 190,000 Model 3s last year. Rivian, by contrast, moved just 42,000 units in 2025, though the arrival of its smaller R2 will boost this year’s numbers.
Photos Ford
Ford’s confidence has surprised some industry watchers because America’s EV market is currently going backwards. Electric cars accounted for 5.7 percent of US sales in August, according to Motor Intelligence data cited by the WSJ, versus 10.3 percent a year earlier. August EV sales plunged 48 percent year over year.
The Fathom is Ford’s attempt to prove price can change that equation. Starting at $28,350 before a $1,595 destination charge, it promises more passenger room than a Toyota RAV4, along with familiar conveniences including a touchscreen and power windows.
Minimalist Rival
Those last two features sound unremarkable until you meet its $24,950 rival, the Slate Truck. That minimalist two-seat pickup uses crank windows and skips a factory stereo and touchscreen entirely. And though Ford has yet to release technical specs for the crew-cab Fathom the chances are good that it will equal or better the Slate’s 205-mile (330 km) claimed range and 1,550 lb (703 kg) payload. It should also almost chop the Slate’s 8-second zero to 60 mph (97 kmh) time in half.
To keep build costs low, Ford is gambling on a radically different way of building the Fathom. Its reworked Louisville factory will assemble the front, rear and structural battery-floor sections simultaneously on separate lines, then bolt and bond them together. Ford says the system should build vehicles 15 percent faster than the plant’s previous process, though retooling cost $2 billion.
To make that investment work it needs 100,000 Americans to sign up every year for the Fathom when it goes on sale early in 2027. How do you rate its chances?
Subaru sales climbed 1.3% last month to 62,028 units.
Ascent saw a 37.2% increase, while WRX soared 191%.
New EVs helped to grow sales, but Solterra plummeted.
It’s a new month and that means sales data is slowly trickling in. Some of the latest is from Subaru and it reveals August sales climbed 1.3% to 62,028 units.
While the brand didn’t break any records like Kia, they noted the Ascent, Crosstrek, Outback, and WRX had their best month of the year. The Crosstrek was the top performer with 19,541 sales, which was a 4.4% decline from a year ago.
The Forester was up 17.8% to 16,760 units, while the Outback slid 3.4% to 15,233. It’s also worth noting dealers sold five Legacy sedans, despite the fact that production ended nearly a year ago.
The biggest surprise for August was the Ascent, which saw sales climb 37.2% to 5,155 units. The 2027 model was announced in June and only received minor changes such as a new Deepwater Blue Pearl paint job and USB Type-C charging ports. Those are hardly the kind of things that would drive sales in a crossover that was introduced in 2017.
While the Ascent’s sudden sales jump is a mystery, the WRX’s 191% increase is a no-brainer. The brand slashed pricing earlier this year and focused on affordability.
That brings us to EVs, which paint a mixed picture. Solterra sales fell 86.6% to a dismal 197 last month. At the same time, Subaru sold 1,248 Trailseekers and 320 Uncharted EVs.
This implies the new Trailseeker and Uncharted could be cannibalizing sales from the older Solterra. However, it may not be that simple as a quick search suggests dealers only have 70 new Solterras in stock. That’s less than two weeks of supply, so the lack of product appears to be hampering sales.
That being said, overall sales of EVs were up slightly as Subaru sold 1,765 in August. That’s a 21.3% increase compared to the 1,466 sold a year ago.
Kia had a record-breaking August as Americans bought 83,793 vehicles.
Six different models set a new monthly sales record including the Telluride.
Hybrid sales were up 99%, thanks to gas prices above $4 per gallon nationally.
Kia’s stellar year continues as the brand has set a new August sales record in the United States. Dealers moved 83,793 vehicles last month, which was 786 more than a year ago.
The brand didn’t just break one record either as the K4, K5, Carnival, Seltos, Sportage, and Telluride all posted their best August in history. Kia also noted hybrid sales were up 99%, which can largely be credited to high gas prices caused by the war in Iran.
While consumers embraced hybrids to save at the pump, gas prices weren’t high enough to get them to switch to EVs. Sales of the EV6 tumbled 60% to 712 units, while the larger EV9 fell 33% to 1,789.
The big winner last month was the Sportage as Americans snapped up 18,723 of them. This was a slight increase from a year ago, but sales are up nearly 8.5% year-to-date.
The Sportage was followed by the affordable K4 (12,881) and Telluride (12,693). The latter was recently redesigned and consumers appear to be digging it as sales are up 16.7% year-to-date. This was undoubtedly aided by the introduction of a hybrid variant with its recent redesign.
Speaking of redesigned models, the 2027 Seltos appears to be off to a strong start as August sales surged 65.3% to 9,214 units. The classier crossover starts at $24,990 and will be followed by a hybrid variant later this year.
It’s also worth noting Kia was able to set a new monthly sales record despite the elimination of the Soul. That model found 5,548 buyers in August of 2025, while last month’s sales fell to zero.
Kia also has a few things to look forward to including the facelifted Niro and all-new EV3. The latter found six early adopters last month and should generate some interest thanks to a starting price of $29,890.
BMW has delivered 2 million fully electric cars around the world.
Europe’s surging EV market is giving the new iX3 real momentum.
Electric sales are falling in America though BMW sales are rising.
BMW’s electric adventure has officially passed a big milestone. Almost 13 years after the original i3 arrived, the company has handed over its two millionth fully electric vehicle. And one of the factors making that possible is that EV sales are currently going gangbusters in one specific region.
The landmark two-millionth car was an i5 M60 xDrive built in Dingolfing and delivered to a customer in Spain. Add plug-in hybrids and BMW Group says it’s shifted around 3.5 million electrified vehicles since 2013, while more than one in four of its global sales during the first half of 2026 had some form of electric propulsion.
Things are moving particularly quickly in Europe. BMW’s European BEV sales jumped 38 percent during the second quarter to 81,445 cars. Fully electric models represented roughly 28 percent of BMW’s European sales during 2026’s first half.
That’s not happening in isolation. Almost 1.5 million BEVs were registered across Europe through July, up 30 percent year over year. July alone saw electric cars grab 35 percent of the French market and 29 percent in Germany. Denmark, meanwhile, hit 80 percent, Reuters reports.
BMW’s new iX3 appears well placed to seize the opportunity. The automaker says it’s approaching 100,000 orders, and since its unveiling, one in three electric BMWs ordered in Europe has been an iX3. And half of European X3-family orders are already for the electric version, which admittedly looks miles better than its ICE brother inside and out.
Growing Family
The Neue Klasse family is expanding, too. Series production of the new electric i3 3-series began in Munich this month, with BMW reporting strong early demand ahead of its market launch. And the new X5 has an electric variant for the first time that will be in showrooms in spring 2027.
But cross the Atlantic and the EV party suddenly gets quieter. US electric sales across the industry fell more than 20 percent year over year in the second quarter following the removal of federal tax incentives, leaving EVs with around a 6 percent share of the market.
No Love For iX
BMW’s own figures show that while North American sales of PHEV vehicles grew 22.9 percent in Q2, sales of electrified (EV and hybrid) vehicles tanked to the tune of -18.1 percent, revealing just how bad demand for EVs is now that US tax credits have gone. Sales of the iX electric SUV, for example, are down almost 50 percent year-to-date, official automaker figures say, though a recent facelift and price cut might help going forward. And Cox Automotive suggests BMW’s overall EV sales in the US are down 56 percent year-to-date. Ouch.
The arrival at BMW showrooms in September of the confident Neue Klasse iX3, whose fresh design will also help improve BMW EVs sales, no doubt. As will the iX5 we mentioned previously (pictured below). But the electric story is still going to be very different from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
Tesla’s entry-level AWD Cybertruck now costs $74,990, up from $69,990.
Price of Premium AWD trim also increases by $5,000, taking it to $84,990.
The increase arrives as Cybertruck sales remain far below Tesla’s ambitions.
Usually when a product isn’t selling as well as hoped, companies make it more affordable to persuade drivers to give it consideration. Tesla seems to have found that approach too conventional. Despite the Cybertruck struggling to attract buyers so badly it makes Ford’s Edsel look like a smash hit, two versions have just become $5,000 more expensive.
The Dual Motor AWD now starts at $74,990, up from $69,990, while the Premium AWD climbs from $79,990 to $84,990. Nothing else about the models appears to have changed.
The Dual Motor Cybertruck still claims 325 miles (523 km) of range, can tow 7,500 lbs (3,400 kg), and reaches 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.1 seconds. The Premium promises the same 593 hp (600 PS / 441 kW), electric range and performance, but is able to tow 11,000 lbs (4,990 kg).
Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck deliveries, but third-party estimates paint an uncomfortable picture. Cox Automotive reckons US sales fell 48 percent in 2025 to 20,237 units, while first-quarter 2026 sales dropped 45 percent year over year to 3,519, Investor’s Business Daily reports. Those numbers look tiny beside CEO Elon Musk’s earlier suggestion that annual demand might eventually support more than 250,000 Cybertrucks.
Cybertruck pricing has been a roller coaster from the start, the first production models debuting in late 2024 with MSRPs far higher than originally promised. Tesla introduced a cheaper Dual Motor for $59,990 in February 2026 as a short-lived promotion, but that later returned to $69,990 and has now reached $74,990. That’s a $15,000 journey in only a few months for fundamentally the same truck. Tesla briefly offered a single-motor Cybertruck during 2025, but it was quickly axed due to weak demand.
Cyberbeast Now Within Reach
The flagship Cyberbeast is the one Cybertruck trim to escape this latest increase. A tri-motor, 845 hp (857 PS / 630 kW) monster capable of reaching 60 mph in 2.6 seconds, it’s still listed on Tesla’s website at $99,990. That means the Premium AWD now sits only $15,000 below the range-topper, making the Beast look like a better deal than last week.
Tesla has already scrapped the Model S and Model X to clear the way for production of the company’s Optimus robots, and between that and the Cybercab robotaxi, it feels like Tesla is focused on a new path. The Cybertruck is just being left to fade away, a rather embarrassing failure that serves to remind us that not everything Elon Musk touches turns to gold.
Maybe slapping $5k on the price will really help make the Cybertruck more profitable because it covers rising production costs and Tesla figures it won’t really affect sales. Or maybe it’s just one of Musk’s impish experiments, you know, just to see how much worse things can get.
A study ranked 50 new cars by what they cost to own each year.
The Porsche 911 topped the list at nearly $11,000 annually.
Interestingly, average hybrids are cheaper to run than the average EV.
Cheap to buy and cheap to own are two different things, and the gap between them is where most new car shoppers get caught out. If you’re shopping in the US and want something that costs almost nothing to keep on the road, there’s one clear winner: the Fiat 500e. Yes, the pint-sized three-door electric hatchback that virtually nobody is buying happens to be the cheapest new car in America to live with.
Fiat moved 150 of them in the first half of the year, down 81 percent from the 788 it managed over the same stretch in 2025, a figure that was hardly worth celebrating in the first place.
A recent study from Self.Inc set out to determine the average running costs of 50 popular new cars sold across the country. We’re not sure how these 50 were selected, but the results show that the 500e has annual running costs of just $3,557, easily beating the next-most-affordable option, the Honda Civic Hybrid, with average annual costs of $4,833.
A key reason for the 500e’s affordability is its efficiency. The car is small and, on average, costs $779 to charge. Average annual insurance at $779 is also well below the industry average, and annual maintenance of $1,275 is also low. Annual fees and taxes of $724 are higher than some of the competition, but that’s not enough to outdo the other savings.
Average Running Costs By Brand
Rank
Brand
Avg. Fuel Costs
Avg. Annual Maintenance
Avg. Annual Insurance
Annual Fees & Taxes
Total Avg. Per Year
1
Hyundai
$1,347
$1,318
$1,945
$775
$5,385
2
Kia
$1,502
$1,582
$1,701
$621
$5,407
3
Mazda
$1,572
$1,636
$1,686
$609
$5,503
4
Honda
$1,503
$1,762
$1,643
$678
$5,586
5
Toyota
$1,533
$1,823
$1,782
$635
$5,773
6
BMW
$1,567
$1,696
$2,521
$1,705
$7,489
7
Genesis
$2,084
$1,760
$2,529
$1,383
$7,755
8
Audi
$2,060
$1,714
$2,701
$1,391
$7,866
9
Mercedes
$1,776
$2,562
$2,654
$1,680
$8,672
10
Porsche
$2,091
$2,741
$2,448
$1,781
$9,062
11
Cadillac
$2,736
$2,554
$2,580
$1,511
$9,380
SWIPE
Sources: Self
Positioned in a surprising third place was the Hyundai Elantra N with average annual running costs of $4,904. We’re not sure how the Elantra N made the list, as opposed to the standard Elantra, particularly given it can use quite a lot of fuel when driven as most N owners drive. Nonetheless, the average maintenance cost is low at just $1,278, which helps.
Other affordable cars to run in the US include the Nissan Versa at $4,949 in annual costs, the Toyota Camry Hybrid at $5,031, the Honda Accord HEV at $5,047, and the gas-powered Honda Civic at $5,062. Included in the affordable options are also the Mini Cooper, Kia K4, and Mazda3.
What About The Most Expensive?
At the other end of the spectrum are some very expensive cars to run. The Porsche 911 was listed as the most expensive car to run, with average annual costs of $10,832, positioning it ahead of the Audi RS7 at $10,334, the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing at $10,265, the Chevrolet Corvette at $10,213, and the Lucid Air at $10,049, primarily due to high insurance fees for the luxurious electric sedan.
Compared to the last time the study was conducted in 2024, average annual fuel costs have fallen from $2,246 to $1,727. While this is good news for car buyers, annual insurance costs have jumped from $1,763 to $2,219, and annual maintenance costs are also up from $1,633 to $1,817. Annual fees and taxes have also increased from $820 to $1,151.
The study also sheds light on differences in ownership costs among EVs, gas-powered vehicles, and hybrids. After analyzing each of the 50 models, hybrids came out on top with average annual running costs of $5,734, less than the $6,189 for EVs, primarily due to cheaper insurance, fees, and taxes. Gas-powered vehicles came last, with an average cost of $7,025.
Pricing for the LiveWire One motorcycle has been reduced to $13,999.
That’s a $2,500 savings and is less than half what the original LiveWire cost.
Company has been battling dismal sales and a stock delisting threat.
Harley-Davidson had high hopes for LiveWire and spun the motorcycle off into its own brand. However, times have changed, and the company has struggled to find its footing.
In the first quarter of 2026, LiveWire only sold 91 electric motorcycles. That’s roughly one per day, but it’s a 176% improvement from the 33 bikes sold in the first quarter of 2025.
The only bright spot has been the company’s affordable STACYC e-bikes, which found 3,959 takers in Q1. Overall, LiveWire posted a $18.1 million consolidated net loss in the first quarter, and that was down from a $19.3 million loss a year ago.
That’s not great, and the New York Stock Exchange notified LiveWire in July that they were in danger of being delisted because their stock price was less than $1.00 per share over a consecutive 30-trading-day period. The company recently regained compliance, but just barely, as their stock sits at $1.14 per share as of this writing.
Among the whirlwind of bad news, LiveWire has slashed pricing for their range-topping One motorcycle. The model now starts at $13,999, which is $2,500 less than the previous MSRP of $16,499. That’s a 15% reduction, and it’s worth noting the original Harley-Davidson LiveWire started at $29,799.
As a refresher, the One has a 15.4 kWh battery pack that feeds an electric motor developing 100 hp (75 kW / 101 PS) and 84 lb-ft (114 Nm) of torque. It enables the model to accelerate from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in three seconds flat, before hitting a top speed of 110 mph (177 km/h).
While the bike is fast, it only has a combined range of 95 miles (153 km). Furthermore, the charging system is relatively slow, as a DC fast charger can take it from 0-80% in a leisurely 40 minutes. With a Level 1 or Level 2 charger, expect around 13 miles (21 km) of range per hour of charging.
A surge in sales helped Tesla secure a 55 percent market share in July.
The Tesla Model Y alone accounts for 37 percent of all EVs sold in the US in July.
Through the second quarter, Chevy had a 6 percent share, followed by Hyundai.
Tesla remains far and away the biggest seller of electric cars in the United States, and despite rivals’ efforts, very little progress has been made in eroding the EV leader’s commanding market share.
July brought 77,266 new EV sales, up 3.2 percent from June and down 41.5 percent from the same month last year. Electric models made up 5.6 percent of all new-vehicle sales. The year-over-year drop has a simple explanation. In July 2025, the federal EV tax credit was still alive, and buyers rushed to cash it in before the Trump administration killed the incentive in September.
Of last month’s electric cars, 42,435 were Teslas, according to Cox Automotive, good for 55 percent of the market. Tesla’s volume climbed 4.9 percent from June. The Model Y did the heavy lifting, as it always does, accounting for 37 percent of every new EV sold in the country. Basically, the nameplate outsold every rival automaker’s entire electric portfolio.
Tesla’s share throughout the entire second quarter was slightly lower at 50.5 percent, with the company selling a total of 124,800 EVs in the US during this period, down 13.1 percent from last year, when 143,535 were sold. In Q2, the brand with the next-largest slice of the EV pie was Chevrolet at 6 percent, followed by Hyundai at 5.8 percent, Cadillac at 4.9 percent, Toyota at 4.8 percent, and Rivian at 4.6 percent. Ford’s share remains a disappointing 3.9 percent, although its July sales were up 18.9 percent from June.
Hyundai posted the strongest month-over-month gain among the major brands in July, up 36 percent. Kia also moved higher, largely on the strength of the EV9.
Sales Surge Pinches Supply
As EV sales climbed in July, the average days’ supply of new EVs fell 6.2 percent month over month to 80 days, and 1.7 percent below where it sat a year earlier. Electric inventory now runs four days above ICE models, down from a nine-day gap in June. Volkswagen carried the heaviest load at 147 days, with Porsche at 138 and Nissan at 133. Subaru ran leanest at 46 days, then Hyundai at 52, and Lexus at 58. Used EVs moved the other way, rising 14.2 percent from June to 46 days, above ICE models for the first time since February 2026.
Used EV sales rose 7.9 percent month over month to 36,810 in July, 10.1 percent better than a year ago. Secondhand electrics took 2.4 percent of the market.
The Price Gap Hasn’t Closed
Electric cars remain the more expensive choice on both the new and used side. Average transaction prices for new EVs rose 1.2 percent in July to $56,126, against $49,649 for the average combustion model, and 1.6 percent higher than a year earlier. Incentives shrank over the same stretch, from 13.1 percent of ATP, or $7,290 per vehicle, in June to 11.8 percent, or roughly $6,626, in July. Used electrics average $37,832 against $34,865 for gas equivalents. Those prices slipped 1.2 percent from June but hold 8.3 percent above where they were a year ago.
Porsche is reportedly planning to phase out the Taycan by 2030.
Sales dropped from nearly 41,000 in 2023 to 16,000 in 2025.
Production will stay in Stuttgart rather than moving to Leipzig.
The Porsche Taycan was introduced in 2019 as the first series production EV of the brand’s modern era and the poster child of its electrification push. However, the model could be facing an earlier-than-expected sunset as sales have collapsed with no sings of recovery.
According to a new report by German publication WirtschaftsWoche, Porsche is planning to end production of the Taycan by 2030 at the latest. Without a new generation on the horizon, this might spell the end of the nameplate after around 10 years on sale, leaving the Panamera as the sole sedan offering in the Porsche lineup.
The Numbers Behind The Decision
The decision to axe the Taycan stems from cooling demand for luxury EVs and the need to cut down costs in a challenging period for the Stuttgart brand. Taycan sales plummeted from a peak of 40,629 units in 2023 to 20,836 units in 2024 before sinking further to 16,339 units in 2025. Things are not looking better this year, with slightly more than 6,000 examples delivered in the first half of 2026.
That weak performance has already rippled through the Zuffenhausen factory, where Porsche has halted Taycan assembly for stretches in recent months.
WirtschaftsWoche claims that the automaker explored transferring assembly to its Leipzig plant, and even considered an immediate termination of the model line. However, the management eventually decided to keep production in Stuttgart and prepare for a gradual retirement prior to 2030.
Porsche declined to comment on the latest report. Still, in a recent interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Porsche CEO Michael Leiters acknowledged that the company has already started trimming Taycan configurations, while insisting there was no immediate plan to retire the nameplate. He described the approach as watching market demand play out after the enormous capital Porsche sank into the car.
What Replaces It
Dropping the Taycan would open a slot for a fully electric Panamera, mirroring what Porsche did with the mechanically related Cayenne and confirming earlier reports about a consolidation. At the moment, the brand’s zero-emission roster consists of the Taycan in sedan, Sport Turismo and Cross Turismo forms, plus the electric Macan and Cayenne SUVs.
Marketing costs at Subaru have soared as it tries to sell its EVs.
In the last quarter, Subaru spent $9,650 for each Solterra sold.
In July, just 1,574 Solterra, Uncharted, and Trailseeker EVs found new homes.
Subaru has thrown an extraordinary amount of money at selling EVs in the US, and it has almost nothing to show for it. The Solterra, Uncharted, and Trailseeker remain exceptionally niche vehicles for the automaker. In July, the WRX almost outsold all three of them combined.
The company ramped up incentive spending during the April-June period, and it shows. Those expenses cut ¥24.9 billion ($153.8 million) from global earnings and accounted for most of the decline. Marketing costs in the US jumped 40 percent in the second quarter, averaging $2,698 per vehicle, even as the company poured more into its electric models.
According to Autonews, citing industry data from Motor Intelligence, incentives on cars including the BRZ, Outback, and Legacy rose 27 percent, while average spending on trucks climbed 49 percent.
Even after the increase, Subaru’s average incentive spending stayed below the industry average of $3,479 per vehicle. Its 40 percent year-over-year jump, however, dwarfed the wider market’s 4.4 percent rise.
Motor Intelligence reports that Subaru spent an average of $9,155 for every Uncharted sold last quarter, $9,650 for every Solterra, and $8,982 per Trailseeker. For comparison, average incentives on the Outback ran $3,036. None of the three electric models looks capable of meaningfully expanding Subaru’s slice of the EV market.
The heavy spending follows the repeal of federal EV tax credits last year, which stripped away support that had propped up demand.
Big Expenses, But Low Sales
Sales data shows that through the first seven months of this year, Subaru delivered 5,275 examples of the Solterra, down 34.6 percent compared to 8,063 sold over the same period last year. In July, sales tumbled 91.2 percent from 1,562 to just 138 units. The Trailseeker and Uncharted are newer entrants to Subaru’s range, so sales figures can’t be compared to this time last year, as they weren’t available.
Nonetheless, they’re certainly not setting any records. Year-to-date, 3,513 Trailseekers have been sold, and 2,850 Uncharted models. In July, 359 Uncharted models were delivered, as well as1,077 Trailseekers. Add up that month’s figures for all three EVs, and you get just 1,574 units, barely ahead of the WRX’s 1,438.
As the spending climbed, Subaru’s operating profit fell from $472 million in the fiscal quarter ended June 30 last year to $263.2 million over the same period this year.
Ford has sold just 13,495 Mustang Mach-Es in the US this year.
Demand for the E-Transit has also decreased by 87 percent.
Sales of Ford’s hybrid models are also down 20.5 percent through the first half.
Ford sales continue to falter in the United States, and the decline accelerated last month, dropping by 10.2 percent compared to July of last year. Although Ford was probably expecting this, it may not have been prepared for the huge decline of its electric and hybrid vehicles.
In July, sales of Ford’s electrified vehicles fell 40.3 percent from 27,042 units last July to just 16,151 last month. This consisted of 2,065 EVs, a decline of 74.9 percent, and 14,086 hybrid vehicles, down 25.1 percent compared to the 18,813 sold in July 2025. Year-to-date numbers are also rather awful. Through the first half of the year, Ford sold just 18,671 EVs in the US, down 60.5 percent, while hybrids declined 20.5 percent to 108,408 vehicles.
In July, the Mustang Mach-E performed particularly poorly. Just 1,863 units found new homes across the country, down 64.9 percent from last year. Through the first half, Mustang Mach-E sales are down 50.2 percent, from 27,093 to 13,495. Then there’s the F-150 Lightning, which Ford ended production of last December. This year, 4,622 have been sold from its inventory, down 70.9 percent, and 141 were sold in July, a 95 percent decline.
In addition to these models, demand for the electric E-Transit has fallen off a cliff. Just 554 have been sold this year, down 87 percent from 4,264, and only 61 were sold in July, a 32.2 percent drop.
Several other models are suffering this year. For example, the Escape is down 71.5 percent year-to-date to 26,736 units after production of it ended late last year. Expedition sales were down 22.9 percent in July, Ranger dropped by 2.5 percent in the same month, and Mustang was down 19.5 percent last year, although it’s now up 15.7 percent this year.
The Lincoln brand has also suffered. Its year-to-date sales are down 12.6 percent to 55,099 units, led by a 46.2 percent drop for the Corsair, which has shifted just 8,148 units this year.
Beijing trimmed its car subsidy by roughly a third this year.
BYD and Geely leaned on exports to soften the home slump.
Analysts expect China’s whole car market to shrink in 2026.
After years of what looked like unstoppable growth, sales of new electric vehicles in China are down 14 percent year on year, dragged lower in part by a slowing local economy and the government pulling some incentives.
Figures released by the China Passenger Car Association show that 4.7 million new EVs have been delivered in China this year. July treated some brands more kindly than June did, though major players like BYD and Geely are still feeling the downturn, as are smaller local firms including Xpeng and Nio.
In July, BYD sold 239,370 vehicles locally, down 9 percent from the same month in 2025 but up 4.9 percent from June. Geely followed a similar pattern, with July sales up 4 percent on June yet down 29.1 percent against last July, the South China Morning Post reports. What’s helping both automakers cushion the home-market slump is a surge in overseas exports.
Brands like Xpeng, Nio, and Li Auto all have some footprint abroad, but their home nation still accounts for the vast majority of sales. Xpeng’s July deliveries slipped 5.2 percent to 38,027 vehicles versus June, Nio’s fell 11.5 percent to 35,934, and Li Auto’s dipped 1.4 percent to 30,468.
AlixPartners expects that by the end of this year, new car sales in China will have dropped by 10 percent to 24.6 million vehicles. The wider economy isn’t doing EV sellers any favors either. GDP grew just 4.3 percent year on year in the second quarter, China’s slowest pace since late 2022.
Incentive Pain
The government’s decision to trim incentives has had an immediate impact on sales. Earlier this year, any new car purchase came with a 15,000-yuan ($2,220) subsidy. That figure was recently cut by 33 percent, and the subsidy now equals 10 percent of a new vehicle’s purchase price, capped at 10,000 yuan ($1,480). For some of the nation’s most affordable EVs, the payout is now 5,000 yuan ($740) lower than before.
Kia set a new July sales benchmark with 75,857 units in the US.
Carnival sales surged 22.8% to reach 7,279 units last month.
Sportage, Telluride, Seltos, and K4 also achieved best-ever July sales.
Kia keeps rewriting its own US sales record, and July gave it another line in the book. Last month stood as the brand’s best July ever, with several models posting record numbers for the month, the Carnival family hauler among them.
The Korean automaker moved 75,857 vehicles in July, a 7 percent gain over the same month last year. Through the first seven months of 2026, the running total reaches 506,584 units, up 4 percent, which puts Kia on course for a fourth straight annual sales record in the US.
According to Kia, the Sportage, Carnival, Telluride, Seltos, and K4 all logged best-ever July sales. The Sportage led the pack with 16,083 sales (+11.7%), trailed by the K4/Forte at 12,094 (+8%), the Telluride at 11,816 (+13%), the Sorento at 9,038 (+13.5%), and the Seltos at 8,807 (+79.1%).
The one that caught our eye, though, is the Carnival minivan. Its 7,279 deliveries marked a hefty 22.8% climb over last year and landed within striking distance of its all-time monthly best of 7,362 units, set in November 2025. A recent study found millennials are fueling a minivan comeback, sold on the practicality and value SUVs can’t match, and Kia’s numbers appear to reflect the trend.
Kia introduced the current Carnival in 2020, and it reached the US for the 2022 model year. A mid-cycle refresh arrived in late 2023 for the 2025 model year, bringing a sharper face and a hybrid powertrain option. Pricing now runs from $37,490 to $53,590, with buyers choosing between a 3.5-liter V6 and a turbocharged 1.6-liter hybrid.
EV Sales Down, Hybrids On The Rise
Strong as the month was overall, Kia’s electric lineup told a rougher story. EV6 deliveries nearly halved to 674 units (-48%) in July, dragging its year-to-date figure to 4,717 (-34%). The three-row EV9 dipped more gently to 1,650 units (-5%), though its year-to-date total still runs ahead of last year at 8,685 (+30%).
Hybrids went the other direction, and hard. Total hybrid sales jumped 108 percent year-over-year. The Sportage Hybrid posted the steepest growth among electrified models at 76%, while the Sorento Hybrid and Carnival Hybrid each managed a 16 percent gain over last July.
Chinese brands captured 34% of Europe’s plug-in hybrid market in June.
PHEV sales climbed as tariffs made battery-electric imports less appealing.
Chinese EV sales across Europe have remained largely steady.
Europe’s tariffs on Chinese EVs were supposed to slow the advance across the region. Chinese brands responded by pivoting to plug-in hybrids instead, and the results speak for themselves. PHEVs from China now make up more than a third of the region’s plug-in hybrid sales. The tariff wall stands where it was, but the traffic routed around it, because the barrier went up around one powertrain and not the other.
Local sales data shows Chinese firms taking a 34 percent share of PHEV deliveries last month, with BYD, Chery, and Geely leading the charge, alongside brands with European ownership ties such as Polestar and Leapmotor.
Dataforce puts Chinese manufacturers at 11 percent of all new car sales in June and 15 percent of the EV market. That second figure sounds healthy, but EV sales haven’t kept pace with plug-in hybrids, hovering between 10 and 15 percent for the past 18 months.
Looking at the hybrid market as a whole, which includes hybrids and plug-ins, Chinese automakers had a market share close to 25 percent.
What Will Europe Do?
Europe’s answer likely won’t be economic measures aimed specifically to assist local car manufacturers, but rather to punish Chinese firms. The European Commission is moving closer to imposing tariffs against plug-in hybrids imported from China into the region. Handelsblatt reported that as soon as a majority of EU members give their approval to these new tariffs, they can be implemented.
It’s understood that tariffs against PHEVs could follow a similar formula to those implemented against EVs in 2024. As such, they could vary between car manufacturers, depending on how they cooperate with European authorities. In the case of the EV tariffs, they vary between 7.8 and 35.3 percent.
The Chinese Are Now Building Locally
Importantly, Chinese brands may already have the answer to these new tariffs. Many have already committed to building vehicles in Europe, including BYD, which now operates a plant in Hungary, as well as SAIC, which will build a site in northern Spain. In addition, Auto News notes that Dongfeng, Chery, Geely, and Leapmotor will or could use existing plants in Europe to build their own vehicles, skirting around any potential new tariffs.
Battery EVs outsold every other powertrain in Germany during June.
Hybrids finished second by fewer than a thousand registrations.
Petrol cars slipped to a fifth of the market in a combustion stronghold.
Germany’s turn to electric cars stopped being theoretical last month. Battery-electric models outsold every other powertrain in June, taking 28.4 percent of the country’s market and finishing ahead of hybrids for the first time. That figure would have looked absurd two years ago in a country whose industrial identity is welded to the internal combustion engine.
Figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) reveal that 84,057 new EVs were sold last month, a 78.2 percent rise from June last year. This allowed EVs to narrowly edge out hybrids, which had been the most popular powertrain option the month prior. Hybrid registrations came to 83,315, a hair behind the EV total but still good for a 28.1 percent share.
Crucially, both EVs and hybrids are now comfortably outselling traditional petrol-powered vehicles, which held a 20.5 percent share of the market with 60,796 registrations in June. Trailing petrol-powered cars were diesels with 33,862 sales, or an 11.4 percent market share, slightly ahead of plug-in hybrids with 32,212 sold, enough for a 10.9 percent share.
Which EVs Are Most Popular?
The most popular EV in Germany last month was the Tesla Model Y with an impressive 6,023 sales recorded. This placed it well ahead of the VW ID.3 in second with 3,514 registrations, followed by the Skoda Enyaq with 3,383, and the Skoda Elroq with 3,315. Other cars among the top 10 best-selling EVs included the BMW X1, Mini (it’s unclear which specific model), Audi A6 e-tron, VW ID.7, Cupra Tavascan, and Mercedes-Benz CLA Electric.
The Model Y proved to be so popular that it was actually the third best-selling new car overall in June. It only trailed the VW Golf, which recorded 8,117 sales, and the VW T-Roc, with 6,808 units sold.
Although EV and hybrid sales are surging in Germany, the vast majority of the nation’s total vehicle fleet still relies solely on fossil fuels. In fact, there are currently 61.3 million registered vehicles on German roads, of which 59.3 percent are powered by petrol and 27 percent by diesel engines. Hybrids account for 6.5 percent while BEVs have a 4.1 percent share.
Through June, China sold 8.7 million new cars, down 20.2% year over year.
The CPCA expects passenger car sales to reach 20.4 million this year.
One analyst sees only seven or eight local EV makers surviving by 2030.
After a sustained period of extraordinary growth, the Chinese car market is suffering from some serious growing pains. New car sales have collapsed this year, so much so that it may end up being the worst year for the Chinese auto industry since 2021.
Figures from the China Passenger Car Association show passenger vehicle deliveries down 20.2 percent through the first half of the year, with 8.7 million units. The industry body expects a total of 20.4 million new cars to move this year, which would represent a fall of 14 percent from 2025, when dealers sold 23.7 million units.
That outlook may be optimistic. The head of Hong Kong/China Industrials Research at Citic CLSA Xiao Feng told CNBC that he expects total year sales to be down 20 percent from last year. He predicts that sales of new energy vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles, will drop roughly 5-6 percent this year.
ICEs Are Mostly To Blame
Perhaps unsurprising, it’s combustion-powered vehicles that are having the biggest impact on the total sales decline. In fact, ICE sales were down 39 percent year-on-year in June, accounting for 78 percent of the market’s total decline. This has largely been due to rising oil prices, triggered by the conflict in Iran.
The Chinese government has also pulled back some of its support for EVs. The cost of lithium has increased, as have the prices of the chips that new and advanced EVs rely so heavily on.
A Rebound On The Horizon
Things could improve next year. Feng anticipates a strong rebound in consumer demand, boosted by a surge in exports from Chinese car manufacturers.
As the Chinese car market ebbs and flows, a period of significant consolidation is expected. Feng believes that by 2030, there will be just seven or eight major EV companies in the country, and foreign brands are expected to have real difficulty competing, likely prompting many to exit the nation entirely.
Honda’s China sales fell from 1.62 million in 2020 to 640,000 last year.
The GAC joint venture has built over 11 million cars since 1999.
No new GAC Honda models are planned for China this year.
Like so many other legacy Western automakers, Honda has watched its China sales collapse in recent years. The Japanese firm isn’t ready to give up and walk away, though. Instead, it has announced a 10-year extension of its joint venture partnership with Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), a deal that was set to expire in 2028.
Honda and GAC have been building vehicles together in China since 1999 and have sold more than 11 million units to date. The extension keeps the joint venture running through 2038, well past the point at which China’s shift to EVs is expected to be all but complete.
Nobody would have blamed Honda for packing its bags and leaving. As recently as 2020, it sold 1.62 million vehicles in China through its joint venture partnerships with GAC and Dongfeng. Last year, total Honda sales in the country cratered to just 640,000 units, 340,000 of them from the GAC joint venture and the remainder from Dongfeng. That is the scale of the hole Honda is now trying to climb out of.
New Models Are Needed
In a statement issued to Nikkei Asia, a Honda spokesperson said, “While a certain length of time is needed for business continuity, China’s automotive market is shifting rapidly, and we’ve made this decision in order to assess the business environment.”
Of course, simply remaining committed to the joint venture does not guarantee Honda’s success in the country. Although the overall market is enduring a period of constriction, Chinese buyers are continually flocking to local brands, many of which are now building world-class cars at more accessible price points.
If Honda wants to find success, it will need competitively priced vehicles with good technology. In 2024, it launched its Ye series of EVs in China, including the P7 built through the GAC joint venture and the S7 built with Dongfeng. While far removed from any Honda vehicles sold in the West, neither of them is particularly desirable in China, which is the problem the next round of models will have to solve.
High prices left both 500e models dead on arrival in Australia’s market.
Fiat sales fell 30 percent during the first half of 2026 across Australia.
Only Fiat’s van business remains as speculation over a local exit grows.
Fiat has stopped importing the only two new models it sells in Australia, the Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e, as it struggles to fend off a sea of more affordable Chinese arrivals. The move leaves the company in a precarious spot and has fueled speculation that it’s inching toward exiting the market entirely as sales crumble.
Demand for the two 500e models has never been strong, largely because they have been so expensive. When first launched, the regular 500e started at AU$52,500 ($36,800), while the Abarth model was initially priced from AU$58,990 ($41,300), price tags generally only reserved for mid-size SUVs, including electric SUVs.
Fiat eventually made steep price cuts to both cars, more than AU$20,000 (US$14,000) in some cases, but that did little to stir demand. Sources familiar with the matter told Drive that Fiat’s five remaining passenger car dealers have gone without new factory 500e allocations for some time. The company also runs 14 Fiat Professional van showrooms.
Earlier this week, Stellantis confirmed it will stop importing the 500e models, the only two passenger cars it still brought into the country. The petrol-powered Fiat 500 and Abarth 695 are already gone, with only leftover stock remaining, though the Scudo and Ducato vans are staying, at least for now.
Sales Collapse
Brad Anderson/Carscoops
Car Sales reports that Fiat volume has dropped 30 percent year-to-date, with just 144 vehicles moved locally this year. Only 13 of those came in June. Ferrari managed 16 and Lamborghini 18, which means two brands that trade in six-figure exotics each outsold Fiat, by 23 and 38 percent respectively over the same month. Stellantis says it remains committed to Australia, but with so little volume, it may become hard to justify the investment needed to keep the brand around.
“As part of Stellantis Australia’s ongoing portfolio and product planning process, the availability of specific models can vary over time as we assess market demand and future product opportunities,” Stellantis said. “We remain focused on ensuring the vehicles we bring to Australia meet customers’ expectations.“
“Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e stock in Australia has now largely been sold through and, at this stage, we are not planning additional orders while we evaluate future product opportunities for the local market. We continue to support our Fiat and Abarth customers and dealer network and look forward to sharing more information about Fiat’s and Abarth’s future plans in Australia at the appropriate time,” the company added.
A Sign Of Things To Come?
Earlier this month, fellow Stellantis brand Peugeot revealed it was parting ways with Australian distributor Inchcape, meaning Stellantis itself will control the firm’s local operations. Last week, local media was informed that Peugeot was completely retiring its fleet of press vehicles, noting it would no longer be offering loans to the media. Its sales have also fallen drastically as the French brand has failed to compete with new arrivals, mostly from China. Its sales are down more than 32 percent year-to-date.
China ended 2025 with nearly 44 million new energy vehicles in use.
The country aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions from transportation.
BEV and PHEV sales must rise quickly to meet the government’s targets.
China has more new-energy vehicles, a term that includes EVs, PHEVs, and FCEVs, on its roads than any country on the planet, yet all of them together make up only about 12.01 percent of the country’s total fleet. Beijing wants that figure to reach 30 percent within four years, which gives you a sense of how much ground it still has to cover.
Figures from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security put 43.97 million NEVs on the country’s roads at the close of 2025. Nearly 69 percent of those run purely on batteries. Roughly 34.2 million new cars were registered across China during the year, with about half of them qualifying as NEVs.
Getting from 12 percent of the fleet to 30 percent by 2030 is a tall order, and the market isn’t helping. New-car sales have contracted for months, and the end of certain tax breaks should push them lower still.
However, age works in China’s favor. The average car there is under 7 years old, so the fleet turns over faster than most, and cleaner vehicles reach the road sooner. Every year, a larger slice of existing cars on the road gets replaced, which means EVs displace gas cars more quickly than they would in a market full of older holdouts. The typical vehicle on American roads has reached 12.8 years, and those cars aren’t going anywhere soon.
Fighting Carbon
China’s ambitions to rapidly expand the number of NEVs on its roads form part of its ‘15th Five-Year Carbon Peaking Action Plan,’ aiming to cut the country’s carbon emissions by 2030. It wants to see carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP fall by 17 percent from 2025 levels. It’s not just light-duty vehicles that the government is targeting to achieve this. It also wants to see NEVs account for 25 percent of commercial transport vehicles by 2030.
That commercial goal, as CNEVPost points out, leans on heavy-duty trucks catching on across the country, from construction sites to ports and airports where diesel has long ruled.
The plan reaches past the vehicles themselves and into the infrastructure that keeps them moving, calling for a wave of new charging points and battery-swapping stations built nationwide to handle the growing number of NEVs.
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