EV Sales Spike for Second Month in a Row
August marked a second consecutive strong month for the electric vehicle (EV) market, with record sales and rising market share in both the new and used segments.
As consumers acted quickly ahead of the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credit expiration, Cox Automotive saw demand stay strong, inventory tighten, and incentives remain influential. These shifts signal a market on the verge of change, as government-backed sales incentives are set to expire at the end of September.
New EV Sales: August new EV sales climbed to a record 146,332 units, up 14.1% month over month and 17.7% year over year, lifting market share to an all-time high of 9.9%. Thirteen brands posted their best EV sales of the year.
The top five by volume – Tesla (55,500 units), Chevrolet (12,191), Ford (10,414), Hyundai (10,186), and Honda (9,347) – continued to lead the market. While Tesla grew modestly (3.1%), its market share declined by 4 points to 37.9%. Honda, with only the Prologue in the market, surged 47.9% month over month to reach 6.4% share. Among luxury brands, Audi posted the strongest growth, up 65.1% to 7,326 units, capturing 5% market share.
Used EV Sales: Used EV sales reached a record 40,960 units in August, up 22% month over month and 59% year over year, pushing market share to a new high of 2.4%. The top five makes by volume showed double-digit month-over-month growth: Tesla (17,164 units, 17.6%), Chevrolet (3,801 units, 17.3%), Ford (2,456 units, 39.6%), BMW (2,031 units, 38%), and Nissan (1,888 units, 21.6%). While Tesla remained dominant, its share of the used EV market dipped to 41.9%, down 1.6 percentage points from July. Ford and Volkswagen posted the largest share gains among major brands, each up 0.8 percentage points.
