BMW just wrapped its best year ever in the United States, yet the brand’s electric future suddenly looks less certain. Shoppers flocked to its showrooms in record numbers, but many of the customers who might have driven away in a battery-only model instead chose gasoline or plug-in hybrids. The split underscores how the next phase of electrification will be shaped as much by consumer caution as by corporate ambition.
Record U.S. sales hide a sharp electric setback
At the company’s U.S. headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, executives could point to a clean headline: more vehicles sold than at any time in the brand’s American history. In a statement from Woodcliff Lake, NJ, Jan, BMW and MINI brands in the U.S. were credited with delivering a third consecutive annual record. The company’s own tally for Jan described how BMW of North America Reports Full Year results showed that the core BMW marque and its smaller sibling combined to push volumes to new highs. A separate recap of Jan figures noted that BMW of North America Reports Full Year Sales Results with growth across much of the lineup, from compact crossovers to high-margin SUVs.
Beneath that success, however, the electric story turned sharply negative. Internal analysis highlighted that the third straight record, described in Jan as a “third consecutive annual record,” came even as a 45.5% plunge in battery electric vehicle sales hit the U.S. business. Reporting on the same data stressed that every one of the brand’s battery-only models in America suffered a meaningful decline, with Every BMW electric nameplate losing ground even as overall deliveries climbed. That contrast, record totals on one side and shrinking EV demand on the other, is now forcing BMW to rethink how quickly U.S. buyers are willing to abandon gasoline.
Buyers pivot to plug-in hybrids as pure EVs stall
The clearest sign of that rethink is where customers actually put their money. Analysts tracking the U.S. market for Jan found that BMW Buyers Turned To plug-in hybrids as EV Demand Softened In 2025 In The United States, with shoppers gravitating to models that pair a combustion engine with a usable electric range. The same pattern emerged in more detailed coverage, which noted that The BMW i7 was the slowest-selling EV in the company’s portfolio, with 2,905 units finding new customers in the U.S. even as plug-in hybrid SUVs and sedans posted gains. Internal commentary from Jan framed it bluntly: the contrast is striking, as consumers backed away from fully electric vehicles, they increasingly opted for the flexibility of plug-in hybrids that do not require them to commit fully to battery electric powertrains, a shift captured in the line that The contrast is striking between the two technologies.
That behavior fits a broader global pattern of hesitation around all-electric ownership. A recent survey of Car Buyers found that Preference Shifts Back to ICE Vehicles, with Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) models now the first choice for 50% of respondents and interest in fully electric Vehicles slipping by 10 percentage points, now standing at 14%. Even in markets where electrification is further along, such as Australia, the latest Electric Vehicle Index shows that Internal combustion engines’ (ICE ( Internal combustion engines ) ) share of the Australian market continued to decline in the Sep quarter, reaching their lowest market share since 2022, yet the report still underscores how Internal combustion remains a powerful force. Industry observers describe the current moment as a new, Darwinian phase for electrification, arguing that a seismic shift in incentives, pricing, and competition makes 2026 the dawn of a new, Darwinian era in which only the most compelling EV offerings will thrive.
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