Like most car dealers, Scott Kunes has some electric vehicle whiplash.
In the third quarter, he sold EVs like ice cream at the beach. However, after federal purchase incentives expired at the end of September, those models have been tough to move at his companys 50 or so Midwest stores selling about 20 different brands, from Mitsubishi to Mercedes-Benz.
But buyers arent necessarily turning to gas guzzlers. On Kunes lots, hybrid vehicles are in high demand, a preference thats playing out across the country. While fully electric cars and trucks made up 10% of all auto sales in the U.S. in the third quarter, 15% of transactions were for hybrid vehicles.
The EV market is slowing in the U.S., but analysts expect hybrid sales to continue accelerating. CarGurus Inc., a digital listings platform that covers most of the U.S. auto market, predicts nearly one in six new cars next year will be a hybrid, as automakers green-light more and better machines with the technology. And though these cars and trucks will still burn gas, they will quietly move the needle on both transportation emissions and the transition to fully electric cars and trucks.
Kunes is even more bullish; he figures in the near future, more than half of his business will be hybrid vehicles. We have so much investment in EV and battery technology, and we need to figure out the best possible use of it, he said. Theres a lot to be said for hybrids becoming the most dominant powertrain out there and real soon.
With federal purchase incentives worth up to $7,500 wiped out by the Trump administration, EV sales are expected to plunge 30% in the fourth quarter and remain flat through much of next year. But Americans worried about affordability see hybrids as a pragmatic way to cut fuel expenses and emissions.
They offer consumers a little bit of everything, said Peter Nagle, associate director of Americas demand forecasting at S&P Global Mobility. I think the demand is only going to keep going from here. Their utilitarian nature might appeal more to rural, red state customers, he added.
CarGurus calls hybrids the success story of 2025. Indeed, the fastest-selling car in the country this year has been the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid; it sat on lots for fewer than 14 days on average.
Of the roughly 390 distinct car models on the U.S. market, roughly 87 are available with hybrid technology, nearly 50% more options than drivers had five years ago, according to Edmunds.com. While carmakers have struggled to turn a profit on fully electric vehicles, analysts say their investments in batteries and electric motors are helping them sell more and better hybrid machines.
Its also increasingly difficult to discern a hybrid from a solely gas-powered model, said Scott Hardman, assistant director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis. Carmakers today often dont even label a hybrid as such. Consider Toyotas RAV4, one of the bestselling vehicles in America. The 2026 version of the SUV comes in six different variants, all of which include an electric motor and a gas tank.
A hybrid is just a regular car now, Hardman said. You can buy one by accident.
Kunes, the Midwest dealer, said most of his customers dont pay much attention to how the vehicle propels itself; theyre just looking for the most affordable option. People dont necessarily come in looking for a hybrid vehicle, he explained, but they dont mind taking one.
While not as clean as an electric vehicle, hybrids offer sneaky carbon cuts as well. Americans, on average, drive about 38 miles a day, which requires about one gallon of gas in most basic hybrids. Contemporary plug-in hybrids, which can run on all-battery power, can cover almost that entire range without the gas engine kicking in. And a small crowd of cars will do even better, stretching their batteries well over 40 miles per charge.
All told, hybridization can reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of a vehicle by roughly 20% to 30%, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation.
And Americans will soon have even more hybrids to choose from. As automakers retool their paths to electrification, many are doubling down on hybrids and acknowledging that they will be more than a brief stepping stone in the transition to full EVs.
This month, Ford Motor Co. said it would scrap its electric F-150 Lightning pickup and use its assembly lines to stamp out a new extended-range hybrid pickup, in part because it had invested so much in battery capacity. By 2030, Ford expects half of its global sales to be fully or partially electrified vehicles.
Toyota Motor Corp. is already at that level, in part thanks to all those hybrid RAV4s. Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is steering for the same lane, basing its entire business on hybrids until at least 2030.
Ultimately, hybrid cars and trucks may prove to be as powerful as federal incentives in fueling EV sales. Around one-third of hybrid drivers transition to a fully electric vehicle when they next switch cars. In September, some 57% of car shoppers were considering a fully electric auto, according to JD Power. However, among hybrid households, that share was almost 70%.
I dont necessarily think you buy that car and fall in love with that tiny electric motor, Hardman said. But after a while, people think, Actually, driving electric is pretty nice. One thing I dont like about my hybrid is when the engine kicks on, or I have to go to a gas station.
Stock writes for Bloomberg.
与大多数汽车经销商一样，斯科特·库恩斯（Scott Kunes）也感受到了电动汽车市场的剧烈波动。
第三季度，他销售电动汽车就像在海滩上卖冰淇淋一样轻松。然而，随着联邦购车激励政策在9月底到期，从三菱到梅赛德斯-奔驰等约20个品牌的电动车，在他公司位于中西部的50家门店中变得滞销。
但购车者未必都转向高油耗车型。在库恩斯（Kunes）的经销场地上，混合动力汽车需求旺盛，这一偏好正在全美范围内显现。尽管第三季度纯电动汽车和卡车占美国汽车总销量的10%，但混合动力车的交易占比达到了15%。
美国电动汽车市场增速放缓，但分析师预计混合动力车型的销量将持续攀升。覆盖全美大部分汽车市场的数字列表平台CarGurus公司预测，随着汽车制造商批准生产更多、更先进的混合动力车型，明年每六辆新车中就将有一辆是混合动力汽车。尽管这些混合动力汽车和卡车仍需消耗汽油，但它们将在降低交通排放和向全电动汽车过渡方面悄然发挥推动作用。
库内斯（Kunes）更为乐观；他预计在不久的将来，其业务中超过一半将是混合动力汽车。他表示：“我们在电动汽车和电池技术上投入了大量资金，现在需要思考如何最大限度地利用这些技术。混合动力很快将成为市场上最主流的动力系统，这一点毋庸置疑。”
随着特朗普政府取消了高达7500美元的联邦购车补贴，预计第四季度电动汽车销量将暴跌30%，并在明年大部分时间内保持低迷。但担忧购车成本的美国民众将混合动力车视为减少燃油开支和降低排放的务实选择。
标普全球移动（S&P Global Mobility）美洲需求预测副总监彼得·内格尔（Peter Nagle）表示：“它们为消费者提供了一站式解决方案。我认为需求只会持续增长。”他补充说，这类产品的实用特性“可能更吸引农村地区或红州（共和党支持者聚集州）的消费者”。
CarGurus将混合动力车称为2025年的成功典范。事实上，今年该国最畅销的车型是现代帕里斯帝混动版，平均库存周转天数不足14天。
根据Edmunds.com的数据，在美国市场约390款不同车型中，约有87款提供混合动力技术，比五年前驾驶者可选择的车型增加了近50%。尽管汽车制造商在纯电动汽车上难以盈利，但分析师表示，他们在电池和电动机领域的投资正助力其销售更多、更优质的混合动力车型。
加州大学戴维斯分校电动汽车研究中心副主任斯科特·哈德曼（Scott Hardman）表示，如今越来越难区分混合动力车型与纯燃油车型。汽车制造商甚至经常不再标注混合动力属性。以美国最畅销的丰田RAV4为例，其2026款SUV提供六种不同配置，但所有版本均同时配备电动机和燃油油箱。
“混合动力车如今已和普通汽车没什么两样，”哈德曼表示，“你可能一不小心就买了一辆。”
美国中西部汽车经销商库内斯表示，他的大多数顾客并不太关注车辆的驱动方式，他们只是在寻找最经济实惠的选择。他解释道：“人们不一定是冲着混合动力车来的，但他们也不介意买一辆。”
虽然混合动力车不如电动汽车清洁，但它们也能悄然减少碳排放。美国人平均每天行驶约38英里，大多数基础款混动车仅需消耗约1加仑汽油。现代插电式混动车可完全依靠电池驱动，几乎能在不启动汽油发动机的情况下覆盖这一里程。更有少数车型表现更优，单次充电后续航里程远超40英里。
根据国际清洁交通委员会的数据，总体而言，混合动力技术可使车辆的二氧化碳排放量减少约20%至30%。
美国消费者很快将拥有更多混合动力车型可选。随着汽车制造商调整电气化转型路径，许多企业正加倍押注混合动力技术，并承认其在向纯电动汽车过渡的过程中将不仅仅是短暂的过渡方案。
本月，福特汽车公司宣布将停产纯电动版F-150 Lightning皮卡，转而利用其生产线制造新型增程式混合动力皮卡，部分原因是该公司已在电池产能方面投入巨额资金。福特预计到2030年，其全球销量中将有半数车型实现完全或部分电气化。
丰田汽车公司已实现这一目标，部分归功于其混合动力版RAV4车型的畅销。与此同时，本田汽车有限公司也正朝着同一方向迈进，计划至少在2030年前将整个业务重心放在混合动力车型上。
最终，混合动力汽车和卡车在推动电动汽车销售方面的作用可能与联邦激励措施不相上下。约三分之一的混合动力车主在下次换车时会转向纯电动汽车。根据JD Power的数据，9月份约有57%的购车者考虑购买纯电动汽车。然而，在混合动力汽车家庭中，这一比例接近70%。
哈德曼表示：“我并不认为人们购买那款车后会立刻爱上那个小小的电动机。但过了一段时间，他们会发现，‘其实开电动车感觉相当不错。我不喜欢我的混动车的一点是，当发动机启动时，或者我必须去加油站的时候。’”
斯托克为彭博社撰稿。
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