The New York Auto Show offered a clear read on where the US car market actually stands right now, and the picture doesn’t match the electrification story the industry spent the last several years telling. Automakers are leaning heavily into SUVs and trucks, buyers are responding, and electric vehicles are losing ground fast.
According to data from Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, midsize SUV sales were up 15% in February year over year, midsize truck sales rose 14%, while compact car sales dropped 8% and EV sales fell 26% over the same period. Those aren’t minor fluctuations — they reflect a genuine demand shift that has been building for months.
EV penetration tells the same story in different numbers. Electric vehicles reached 10.5% of US new-vehicle sales in the third quarter of 2025, a high-water mark that looked like momentum. By the fourth quarter, that figure had dropped to 5.8% as government purchase incentives faded. The decline was sharp and fast, suggesting a larger portion of earlier EV buyers were motivated by subsidies rather than a strong independent preference for the technology.
Tariffs are adding a separate layer of pressure. Automakers have absorbed billions of dollars in added costs from import duties on vehicles and parts, with limited ability to pass those expenses directly on to buyers in a market that is already price-sensitive. Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier, speaking at the show, said the company had reduced its tariff exposure from around $4 billion when duties were first imposed to roughly $1.5 billion, with a goal of eliminating it entirely by building more vehicles domestically.
The combination of softening EV demand and tariff-driven cost pressures is reshaping how manufacturers plan their US lineups. Honda recently cancelled three planned EV models for the American market. Stellantis took a significant financial hit linked to its own EV strategy shift. The industry is recalibrating around what American consumers are demonstrably buying — which, for now, remains larger vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.
None of this means the EV transition has stopped. But the timeline and trajectory look considerably more complicated than they did two years ago, and the New York show made clear that automakers have absorbed that reality and are adjusting their near-term priorities accordingly.