There are too many moving pieces in the electric vehicle puzzle right now. Affordable EVs are allegedly on their way, as several automakers have promised. But tariffs, of course, got here first. Now there’s a real possibility that those low-cost EVs may not end up reaching their price targets.
And just as the market seemed to be gaining steam, EV sales took a nosedive in April after a strong start to the year. So what on earth is going on?
Experts told InsideEVs that April’s dip—which came after a year of record electric sales and a strong start to the first three months of the year— is not normal, but it’s not necessarily a reason to begin ringing the alarm bells. Not yet, at least.
First, here’s what happened on the EV sales front last month: American car buyers rushed to their local showrooms to grab the pre-tariff vehicle inventories. But they bought gas-powered vehicles and hybrids in droves. EV sales dropped sharply.
Hyundai’s hybrid sales grew 46% in April, but sales of the Ioniq 5, which has generally been a strong seller, dropped 8% from 3,702 units to 3,411 units. Sales of the Kia EV6 fell 68% from 2,051 units to just 646 units last month. Sales of the three-row EV9 electric SUV dropped 85% from 1,572 units to 232 units.
Ford’s EV sales also decreased by 40% across the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit range. Ford’s hybrid vehicle sales soared nearly 30%.
Both the Toyota bZ4x and Honda Prologue were the bright spots among this lot. The bZ4x posted a solid 111% growth from 827 units sold last April to 1,678 units last month. Sales of the Prologue, which is a General Motors EV underneath, reached 1,847 units in April after beginning its production ramp-up in mid-2024.
Automaker officials said much of the sales drop for their mass-market electric crossovers was due to the production ramp-up of the newer model year vehicles. In more layman’s terms, there was a gap between the older cars and the latest stuff on dealer lots.
Photo by: Ford
2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E With Sport Appearance Package
“The model year changeover for Lightning and Mach-E resulted in limited stock at dealerships in April, impacting sales for both vehicles,” a Ford spokesperson told InsideEVs. “Mach-E and F-150 Lightning started the month on just nine and 19 dealer days’ supply, respectively,” he added.
The automaker isn’t losing hope for the coming months. “With [model year 2025] vehicles hitting dealer lots as we progressed through April, we are well-positioned for a strong May for both electric vehicles,” the spokesperson said.
A Kia spokesperson said something similar. And the Korean brand has more options coming soon with a Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug from the factory. “We are processing a planned changeover to [model year 2025] EV6 and [model year 2026] EV9,” he said. “As a reminder, both will come standard with NACS charge ports and qualify for the current IRA tax credit program,” he added.
Most of these EVs, especially those from Hyundai, Kia and Ford, are indeed getting significant upgrades for the 2025 and 2026 model years.
The Mustang Mach-E is now cheaper and better than ever with a heat pump, better efficiency and a lower starting price. The upgraded Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, Kia EV6 and EV9 get a NACS port and can use the Tesla Supercharger stations without an adapter.
If you were waiting for these vehicles to reach the dealerships, that’s a smart decision. Better Supercharger access could make all the difference in how comfortable you feel doing long-distance road trips in your EV. (Older models also now have access with a NACS to CCS adapter.)
Photo by: InsideEVs
Automakers also went into crisis management mode immediately after President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs took effect early last month. Toyota, Honda and Hyundai pledged to not increase prices immediately.
Hyundai is giving shoppers some respite at least until June 2. Ford and Stellantis have extended employee pricing to regular customers, including on models made in Mexico such as the Mustang Mach-E and the Maverick. Toyota and Honda are in a wait-and-see mode, with no immediate changes to their EV prices in the U.S.
All this uncertainty is brewing because the U.S. has imposed 25% tariffs on imported cars. Imports from China have been tariffed at a whopping 145%. Trump did announce some tariff relief this week—like reimbursements on foreign parts of vehicles assembled in the U.S. But his administration is also going after the $7,500 federal clean vehicle credit, which is why buyers raced to claim the credit while they can.
That led to some uneven spread of sales over the first four months of the year, according to Sam Fiorani of the research firm AutoForecast Solutions.
“Buyers rushed to dealers for EVs early in the quarter to take advantage of the IRA incentive, worried that the new administration would remove them, pulling these sales into January and February,” Fiorani told InsideEVs. “One example is the Ford Mustang Mach-E, where sales in January were more than double the year prior and were up slightly in February, but tumbled in March and April,” he added.
Toyota seems to have managed its inventories better. “Increased sales at Toyota were helped by better supplies as the manufacturer looked at getting under the tariffs that would be applied to the imported bZ4X,” Fiorani said. “All of this was compounded by the model changeover at Tesla, not to mention the political fallout caused by Elon Musk,” Fiorani added.
General Motors executives said during its first quarter earnings call that despite the automaker projecting a $4-$5 billion impact to its business due to tariffs, the company plans to hold prices steady for the rest of the year.
But even if you may not see immediate price swings on the EV you were planning to buy, Wall Street analysts have a grim outlook for the auto industry’s future.
“It is becoming crystal clear this tariff/U.S. policy will cause pure chaos to the global auto industry and will raise the prices of a typical car to a U.S. consumer by $5,000 to $10,000 out of the gates,” the investment firm Wedbush Securities wrote in a note.
“We reiterate that the concept of a U.S. car maker with parts all from the US is a fictional tale that does not exist and would take years to make this concept a reality.”
Have a tip? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
