A showroom floor with three electric SUVs where there used to be one is a quiet but dramatic kind of progress.
The broader US market for battery-electric cars is still climbing back from a sharp fall. And yet one automaker’s EV tally has more than doubled in a single year.
How did a brand long mocked for moving too slowly on electric vehicles become one of the fastest-growing names in the segment?
How adding two new models and stretching the range unlocked a 136 percent surge
A year ago, one Japanese automaker brought exactly one battery-electric model to the US market. During the first half of last year, it sold just 9,249 EVs. That constraint alone kept it buried below a dozen rivals regardless of how competitive the car itself was.
By contrast, the first half of this year brought three battery-electric models: the updated bZ crossover, the new bZ Woodland, and the compact C-HR EV. Each opened a new price point and a new buyer profile, and the lineup effect compounded quickly. The updated bZ now offers up to 314 miles of range, about 25 percent more than the outgoing version, directly addressing the complaint that had dogged it most.
The acceleration through the second quarter is what pushed the full half-year figure so far above even optimistic internal targets, with the bZ’s momentum building as each new model added volume.
What the ranking table looks like now, and which brands lost ground
According to Cox Automotive, Toyota delivered 21,855 battery-electric vehicles between January and June of this year, a 136.3 percent increase over the same period last year. In the first half of 2025, its 9,249 EV sales placed it behind Volkswagen, Rivian, Nissan, Kia, Honda, GMC, Ford, Cadillac, BMW and Audi. This year, it has moved ahead of all of them, Cox data shows.
While Toyota expands its lineup, some competitors are pulling back. Ford canceled the F-150 Lightning by the end of 2025, with production halting in October after a fire at one of its suppliers’ facilities and never restarting. Volkswagen cut the ID.4 from its US lineup, and Nissan axed the Ariya. Those retreats created room in the rankings that Toyota’s expanded model range moved directly into.
The bZ ranked third among the best-selling EVs in the US through the first quarter, trailing only Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3. For comparison, Ford’s overall EV volume fell sharply in the same period, a trend reflected across several legacy brands that had previously ranked ahead of Toyota.
The hard numbers behind the ranking shift, and where they come from
The bZ crossover was the brand’s biggest contributor, accounting for 17,553 sales in the first six months of the year. The bZ Woodland added 554 deliveries and the C-HR EV contributed 3,748.
Together, those three lines gave the automaker a staggered price ladder covering compact, mid-size and rugged-terrain buyers simultaneously. Cox Automotive now ranks the company among the country’s five largest electric vehicle sellers, ahead of names that have been in the EV business far longer.
The broader market context makes the performance even more striking. Kelley Blue Book data shows 247,226 EVs sold in the second quarter, a 14.7 percent improvement over the first quarter but a 20.5 percent decline from the same period last year. Growing 136 percent inside a market still down year-on-year is a genuinely unusual result. With automakers pushing aggressive financing to move EV inventory this fall, the brands that already carry momentum hold a structural advantage.
Where the growth hits a ceiling, and what could slow it down
Even with the numbers pointing sharply upward, real limits remain. Part of the momentum depends on manufacturer incentives that have boosted bZ sales, and new models still need time to build volume. The bZ Woodland is a high-utility form factor tough to find anywhere else in today’s EV market, but it is still in its early weeks of delivery.
EVs accounted for just 5.8 percent of total new-vehicle sales in the first quarter of this year, well below the segment peak of 10.6 percent. The whole category is fighting for share against a surging hybrid market. Hybrid sales climbed 26 percent year over year in the second quarter and reached more than a million units through the first half of the year.
Price pressure adds another layer. The average transaction price for a new EV dropped to $54,754, down 2.8 percent from the prior year, compressing the margin that funds the next product cycle. Buyers can explore infrastructure options through the latest public charging satisfaction rankings as the network supporting these new models continues to expand.
What a stronger EV lineup means for the brand’s next moves
The next-generation Highlander is going fully electric for model year 2027, moving the automaker into one of the highest-volume contested segments in American auto. Sales were initially expected to begin in late 2026, but Toyota confirmed the launch has been delayed; a subsequent report cited by Motor1 suggests the delay could range from four months to as much as twelve, potentially pushing the on-sale date to summer or late 2027. Getting the timing right on that launch will matter as much as the product itself.
The ranking reversal is sourced to primary industry data and it is real. With more than 21,800 EVs sold between January and June, the brand has climbed into the top tier of sellers and overtaken several established competitors.
If the three-model strategy that drove the first half holds through the back half of the year, and the electric Highlander lands on schedule, the conversation about who sits behind Tesla in the American EV market may look very different before long.
