General Motors (GM) saw its electric vehicle sales fall sharply in the United States during the third quarter of 2026, with several of its highest-volume EVs posting declines of more than 50%.
According to GM’s Q3 2026 report, the automaker delivered 25,473 EVs during the three-month period, down 61.7% from its record 66,501 deliveries during the same period last year – a decline of 41,028 vehicles.
That drop meant EVs accounted for just 3.8% of GM’s 670,974 total U.S. deliveries during the quarter, compared with 9.4% a year ago. Overall GM sales fell 5.5%, with the company pointing to “the much smaller EV market and discontinued vehicles” as contributing factors.
Q3 was also GM’s weakest EV quarter so far this year. The company sold 25,851 EVs in Q1 and 30,828 in Q2. Through the first nine months of 2026, GM has delivered 82,152 EVs, down 43.2% from 144,668 during the same period last year.
Cadillac was the standout within GM’s EV portfolio. Its four electric models — Lyriq, Optiq, Vistiq and Escalade IQ/IQL — combined for 12,358 deliveries, representing nearly half of GM’s EV volume and 38.0% of Cadillac’s 32,560 total sales.
The Cadillac Optiq was GM’s best-selling EV with 4,550 deliveries, down just 6.9% from 4,886 last year. The returning Chevrolet Bolt ranked second with 3,866 sales, followed by the Lyriq at 3,617, down 50.5%. Escalade IQ/IQL sales declined 29.2% to 1,604. GM also says Cadillac expanded its lead in the luxury EV market by 1.3 percentage points year-to-date through August.
The biggest decline came from the Chevrolet Equinox EV. Once GM’s best-selling electric vehicle, Equinox EV sales collapsed 92.4% compared with Q3 2025.
Elsewhere, the Blazer EV fell 84.4% to 1,261 units, while Silverado EV sales dropped 58.0% to 1,655. GMC’s Hummer EV declined 72.9% to 1,423, and Sierra EV sales were down 50.8% to 1,661.
In Canada, the picture had been different earlier this year. GM Canada reported EV sales were up 33.4% through the first half of 2026, although the company has not yet released Canadian Q3 figures.
GM wasn’t the only U.S. automaker to see lagging EV sales. Ford also reported a steep decline, down 80% compared to a year ago.
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