Breakdown of auto sales in California

[slo town]

There are some interesting charts in this analysis. Things that caught my eye:

1) EVs account for 21% of all new car sales in California for the year 2025.
2) The Tesla Model Y was BY FAR the best selling model in 2025.
3) In second place is Toyota's Rav4, but it's a very distant second place to the Model Y.
4) Although a bit of a generalization, the top 6 in sales are what I'd classify as "small cars". I expected more SUV types.
5) This is California and not Texas, but I was surprised how far down full-sized truck sales were on the list.
6) And speaking of trucks, Toyota's Tacoma outsold full-sized trucks from Ford, GM, and Stellantis by a significant margin.
7) Given the hefty Tacoma sales, the small trucks made by Ford and GM didn't even register on the list.
8) Probably more surprising to me than anything else is how far Toyota out sells Honda.
9) The "Big 3" brands by total 2025 sales are Toyota, Honda, and.........Tesla. Third place surprises me.

FWIW, y'all.

Scott

https://wolfstreet.com/2026/01/22/n...-tesla-but-model-y-still-1-bestseller-by-far/

 

[demarpaint]

Keep the gas prices high there and people will buy EVs.

 

[GON]

FWIW, y'all.

Scott

https://wolfstreet.com/2026/01/22/n...-tesla-but-model-y-still-1-bestseller-by-far/

Thanks for sharing and an interesting graphic.

Something significant (although some may deny), California is identified in leading the car trends for the rest of the nation. So, what happens in vehicle trends in California today, will follow in the rest of the nation (this is reported--I am not fluent on the subject).

 

[Kira]

Keep the gas prices high there and people will buy EVs

Oh good, Canada will have a market for their old Chinese ones.

 

[2005jettatdi]

Keep the gas prices high there and people will buy EVs.

Maybe, have you seen the price of electricity in California?

 

[slo town]

Maybe, have you seen the price of electricity in California?

It's the price of natural gas that's expensive in California! Natural gas is 3/4s of our winter time utility pair (electric and natural gas). Our nat gas bill for December was $266 - and we keep a cool house.

But there's more than one way to skin a cat. I'm now turning off the heat at night and for large portions of the daytime when we're out and about. I probably should have been doing that all along.

Scott

 

[JeffKeryk]

Maybe, have you seen the price of electricity in California?

Owners usually charge off peak, 10PM to 6AM. Rates are low. Solar is also big here due to that big nuclear reactor up in the sky. It has lost its benefit, due to current cost offerings.

 

[JeffKeryk]

We love our EVs and hybrids for a number of reasons.
Gas prices are a big one.
Convenience of fueling home; gas stations are a drag. And charging infrastructure is there if you when you need it.
Very low maintenance.
Many like the green effect, real or otherwise.
$$ credits are nice; most are now gone.
Lexus lane use; no longer though.
Interest and love of tech and new or trendy things is a big one.

Oh yeah, we love the performance. The right-now torque puts a smile on your face everytime!

 

[demarpaint]

Maybe, have you seen the price of electricity in California?

Most EV owners in CA have solar don't they?

 

[grasscutter]

I see scads and scads of Chevy Silverado trucks everywhere. They got that multi-cylinder de-activation you know.

That tells me the customers who purchase those vehicles aren't very mechanical people.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Interesting read - thanks for sharing.

California is very different from the rest of the country in that it has the highest percentage of population living in urban areas (parking constraints) and has very high energy costs. As such they have always had different vehicle preferences than the rest of US - think Civic, corolla, etc. have always been the most popular type vehicle for decades.

I imagine the choice profile looks a lot like Europe for obvious reasons. F series pickup which is likely number 1 in the majority of states is 8th.

The only reason I bought my Xterra in 2008 is Oil hit $147 a barrell, a price which has never been repeated, and the car dealers couldn't give gas guzzlers away. I knew the cure for high prices was high prices and oil went to $35 a year later.

I don't think this is a EV / ICE thing. Just logical trend.

 

[edyvw]

Interesting read - thanks for sharing.

California is very different from the rest of the country in that it has the highest percentage of population living in urban areas (parking constraints) and has very high energy costs. As such they have always had different vehicle preferences than the rest of US - think Civic, corolla, etc. have always been the most popular type vehicle for decades.

I imagine the choice profile looks a lot like Europe for obvious reasons. F series pickup which is likely number 1 in the majority of states is 8th.

The only reason I bought my Xterra in 2008 is Oil hit $147 a barrell, a price which has never been repeated, and the car dealers couldn't give gas guzzlers away. I knew the cure for high prices was high prices and oil went to $35 a year later.

I don't think this is a EV / ICE thing. Just logical trend.

Ditto.
Big cities, small cars. Go to Chicago, NYC, etc., sedans rule.
My friend in Chicago had 10mls commute. He got that Nissan Leaf, I was like: man? Seriously? He was: "well, I have a 10-mile commute on a congested interstate. What am I going to do? Get Corvette? It is traffic, all the time. You cannot enjoy a car, whatever you get." And he was a guy who tracked Mitsubishi EVO.

 

[slo town]

Interesting read - thanks for sharing.

California is very different from the rest of the country in that it has the highest percentage of population living in urban areas (parking constraints) and has very high energy costs. As such they have always had different vehicle preferences than the rest of US - think Civic, corolla, etc. have always been the most popular type vehicle for decades.

I imagine the choice profile looks a lot like Europe for obvious reasons. F series pickup which is likely number 1 in the majority of states is 8th.

The only reason I bought my Xterra in 2008 is Oil hit $147 a barrell, a price which has never been repeated, and the car dealers couldn't give gas guzzlers away. I knew the cure for high prices was high prices and oil went to $35 a year later.

I don't think this is a EV / ICE thing. Just logical trend.

Exactly!

EVs are best suited for densely populated cities, but the big question I have is how do you provide a charging station for each resident of a high rise or large apartment complex? And even if you could provide a charging station for each resident, where will all that power come from? It's not just power generation, it's the issue of running wire to support these demands (I'm talking total demand to the high rise or apartment, not just demand for a charger). Couple this with the news that AI data centers are sucking the local power companies dry...

We have some new neighbors who bought the house next to us. A friendly "contemporary" couple, if you will. They're all in on this stuff. They're putting solar in plus a power wall, and one of their cars is a Rivian SUV (a nice looking piece BTW). Their other car is an Acura MDX. As much as they love solar and EVs, they told me to my face they'd never rely solely on an EV. They said having a gasoline powered car in their fleet was a must.

Scott

 

[edyvw]

Exactly!

EVs are best suited for densely populated cities, but the big question I have is how do you provide a charging station for each resident of a high rise or large apartment complex? And even if you could provide a charging station for each resident, where will all that power come from? It's not just power generation, it's the issue of running wire to support these demands (I'm talking total demand to the high rise or apartment, not just demand for a charger). Couple this with the news that AI data centers are sucking the local power companies dry...

We have some new neighbors who bought the house next to us. A friendly "contemporary" couple, if you will. They're all in on this stuff. They're putting solar in plus a power wall, and one of their cars is a Rivian SUV (a nice looking piece BTW). Their other car is an Acura MDX. As much as they love solar and EVs, they told me to my face they'd never rely solely on an EV. They said having a gasoline powered car in their fleet was a must.

Scott

That will be name of the game for next sevral decades.
My wife could have EV instead of Tiguan. We just drive it around. I take it sometimes to exercise it. Had 111,000mls, looks and feels brand new inside. We will just keep it until kids start driving, and then she will probably get EV.

 

[CKN]

I see scads and scads of Chevy Silverado trucks everywhere. They got that multi-cylinder de-activation you know.

That tells me the customers who purchase those vehicles aren't very mechanical people.

GM sold just shy of a 1 million trucks last year-almost 1 million. And the turbo (2.7) 4 cylinder's "deactivation" is not the same system as used in the 5.3.

What are you saying?

 

[tbm3fan]

It's the price of natural gas that's expensive in California! Natural gas is 3/4s of our winter time utility pair (electric and natural gas). Our nat gas bill for December was $266 - and we keep a cool house.

But there's more than one way to skin a cat. I'm now turning off the heat at night and for large portions of the daytime when we're out and about. I probably should have been doing that all along.

Scott

That would be the smart move. I live in the far East Bay where the mornings can be between 35-40 degrees now. Heat is always off at night and all day when no one is home. With heat off house never gets lower than 59 inside. I prefer a cool house so the temp is set at 64 when occupied. So bill in these cold months is around $225 for gas and electric. My wife, being from the Philippines, will complain about the cold but then she also complains about the heat. Go figure!

 

[Panda87]

That would be the smart move. I live in the far East Bay where the mornings can be between 35-40 degrees now. Heat is always off at night and all day when no one is home. With heat off house never gets lower than 59 inside. I prefer a cool house so the temp is set at 64 when occupied. So bill in these cold months is around $225 for gas and electric. My wife, being from the Philippines, will complain about the cold but then she also complains about the heat. Go figure!

My grandmother was from Manila. She was raised in a convent and didn’t complain about anything. Nearly every other Filipina I met did though ; they were all very sweet and giving either way.

 

[grasscutter]

GM sold just shy of a 1 million trucks last year-almost 1 million. And the turbo (2.7) 4 cylinder's "deactivation" is not the same system as used in the 5.3.

What are you saying?

They have cylinder de-activation on the 4 cylinder too? That's news to me.

I always thought cylinder de-activation was for V8's to squeeze another 0.0001 miles per gallon more out of an otherwise reliable V8.

 

[dnewton3]

a friendly reminder ... leave the politics out of the conversation or the thread gets locked.

 

[CKN]

They have cylinder de-activation on the 4 cylinder too? That's news to me.

I always thought cylinder de-activation was for V8's to squeeze another 0.0001 miles per gallon more out of an otherwise reliable V8.

Respectfully-then maybe a little research before you make side way comments is in order.