Hybrids On Pace to Outsell EVs By 3 to 1 in 2026 as Hybrids Surge and EV Adoption Slows in the U.S. Market - Were EVs the Bridge and Hybrids the Destination After All

Just how hard did hybrids spank battery-electric (BEV) vehicles in October? The Argonne National Lab reports that for the month, 175,601 hybrid vehicles were sold in America, and just 74,897 battery-only vehicles. Hybrids outsold BEVs by more than two to one for the month. Being the very first month after the end of federal EV subsidies, every media group and analyst predicted a bad month for BEVs, but very few spoke out regarding just how great the month would be for hybrids. Why is that?

For more background on battery-electric vehicle market share trends, please see our story, U.S. Electric Vehicle Market Share Reaches Tipping Point, Begins To Decline Rapidly to 2022 Levels

It became a popular saying in EV-advocacy circles that “hybrids were a bridge.” The implied meaning is that hybrids are somehow leading American new-car buyers toward a predetermined destination and that they are only helping toward an (imaginary) goal of 100% battery-electric vehicle market share. The fact is, hybrids have been outselling battery-electric vehicles as the green vehicle of choice throughout the modern era of EVs and have pulled far ahead. Yet the automotive media allows a vocal minority of EV advocates to keep up the false narrative that the universal adoption of battery-only powertrains is inevitable.

One comment that really hit home when I was researching the decline in BEV market share and the continued rise in hybrid share was this one a Cox Automotive Senior Analyst. She said in the context of EV market share declining dramatically, “...this reset only underscores how critical it is to bring more attainable EV options to market.”

My question to our readers is:

Why is it critical for OEMs to build more cars that 94% of Americans don’t want to buy? Wouldn’t it make much more sense to build more hybrid capacity since it is growing and has never stopped growing? Why is it 'critical' for manufacturers to build EVs and sell them at a loss when another green choice is popular among consumers and profitable for the automaker?

Hybrid Market Share Passed 22% in 2025, Could Reach 30% by Late 2026
Though most energy-related and all EV-centric publications mention it only in passing, hybrids have had a great past three years, while EV adoption stalled. Handy data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS.gov) shows that battery-electric vehicles have never passed hybrids in popularity. Hybrid-Electric Vehicles (HEVs) and Plug-In Hybrid-Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) jumped by over 30% from the start of 2023 to the end of 2024. During that same period, battery-electric vehicle deliveries started to stall and gained only about five to 10% in overall annual deliveries.

Data from CarEdge shows that Battery-electric vehicles had about 8.7% market share in Q4 2024, with the combined hybrid market share at 22% that quarter. It’s not hard to see that hybrids have already come close to having triple the market share of EVs.

Toyota Leads, But Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Ford, and Others Are Leaning Hybrid-Heavy
Hybrid sales are not at all evenly distributed across manufacturers. Toyota has been steadily eliminating powertrains without some form of hybrid drive, and the top-selling RAV4 will all be hybrid-only in 2026. Toyota has already learned from its hybrid-only Camry and Sienna models that its sales are not harmed, but helped by offering hybrids as the default powertrain option for most of its mainstream models. Slowly, but steadily, Toyota has added more and more hybrids as a percentage of its total builds - not just its on-paper offering. Honda is following closely with about half of its Accords, Civics, and CR-Vs now shipping with hybrid powertrains.

Ford never quit on hybrids the way GM did, and its Maverick Hybrids are extremely popular. When they launched, the Maverick hybrid trims were garnering additional dealer markups of up to $20K over MSRP. The Ford F-150 Hybrid is also a popular option in its lineup. Nissan quit on hybrids, but just launched a new plug-in hybrid version of its top-selling model, the Rogue.

Hyundai and Kia offer hybrids of various types across their lineups, with nearly all top-selling models having three powertrain choices, two being hybrids.

With hybrids outpacing EVs in popularity despite an incredible policy push by the government over many decades towards battery-only vehicles, it feels a lot like EVs had their shot, missed, and meanwhile, the green vehicle choice that makes the most sense to the most shoppers never lost a step. Will the small minority of vocal EV advocates continue to have the strong voice they have had in mainstream and automotive media going forward, or are “shoppers” of vehicle content going to make the switch away, as vehicle shoppers have in dealer showrooms? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools. 
 

Top of page image courtesy of eia.gov.