Ford sold 6,047 electric vehicles in the United States in the third quarter of 2026, down 80.2% from 30,612 a year earlier. The figure is in the sales chart attached to Ford's October 2 sales release, not in the headline Ford chose for the quarter. That headline is about trucks, large SUVs, and retail share. The chart is where the EV story is.
Almost all of those 6,047 sales were one model. The Mustang Mach-E accounted for 5,574, down 72.4% from 20,177 in the third quarter of 2025. The F-150 Lightning added 289, down 97.1% from 10,005. The E-Transit added 184, down 57.2% from 430. Those three lines add up to the electric-vehicle total. On this chart, Ford no longer has a second high-volume EV sitting next to the Mach-E.
The comparison quarter is a hard one, and Ford's release does not spell out why. The IRS says the federal new, used, and commercial clean-vehicle credits are not available for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025. The third quarter of 2025 was the last quarter in which a new Ford EV could still be acquired in time for that credit. A drop from that base was expected across the industry. Ford's drop is not the same story as the third-quarter counts from Tesla and Rivian, which are different lineups and different results. An 80% drop, with the Lightning effectively reduced to a few hundred trucks, is still the number Ford printed.
Hybrids fell too, with one exception
Ford's "electric vehicles" line is not the same thing as its "electrified" line. Total electrified sales, which fold in hybrids, were 50,355 in the quarter, down 41.3% from 85,789. Hybrid vehicles on their own were 44,308, down 19.7% from 55,177. Electric vehicles were about 12% of Ford's electrified sales this quarter. A year earlier they were about 36%, using the same two lines on the chart.
That hybrid decline is not uniform. In the written release, Ford says the Maverick Hybrid set a third-quarter record at 27,793 trucks, up 59.6%. The hybrid nameplate Ford talks about is a compact pickup, not the Mach-E. The all-Maverick row on the chart, gas and hybrid together, was 41,970, up 20.4%. Readers should not treat the Maverick record as a rebound in Ford's EV business.
Through September, Ford had sold 22,653 electric vehicles in 2026, down 67.5% from 69,600 in the first nine months of 2025. Year-to-date Mach-E sales were 17,206, versus 41,962. Lightning sales were 4,770, versus 23,034. E-Transit sales were 677, versus 4,604. Companywide, Ford sold 509,764 vehicles in the quarter, down 6.6% from 545,522. Take out the planned end of the Escape and the Lincoln Corsair, Ford says, and total volume was essentially unchanged against an industry decline of about 1%. The EV line is the part that was not unchanged.
Fewer Mach-Es coming off the line in September
Ford's plant table, which reports production in thousands, shows Mustang Mach-E output at Cuautitlan of 1,751 vehicles in September, after 3,172 in August and 2,626 in July. September was the low month of the year on that row. The full-year Mach-E line on the same table stands at 26,735. Ford does not say on the page how many of those were built for the United States rather than export, so the production figure is not a U.S. sales forecast.
At the end of September, Ford's gross-stock table lists 5,000 Mustang Mach-Es, again reading the table's thousands. That is dealer and company stock, not a count of how many are discounted. It does say the model is still in inventory heading into the quarter when Ford is paying people to consider it.
The offer Ford did put in the release
The EV-specific sentence in the release is about the Ford Power Promise. Ford says it has been extended through the fourth quarter for customers who purchase or lease a new 2026 Mustang Mach-E. Eligible customers can choose a complimentary home charging station with standard installation, or $1,500 in bonus cash.
The release does not list the charger model, what "standard installation" excludes, or whether the cash can be combined with other Mach-E discounts. Those details live with the dealer and with Ford's offer terms, not in this sales document.
One stacking assumption is already off the table. The same IRS page says the federal credit for home EV charging equipment applies only if the property was placed in service before July 1, 2026. A charger installed with a Mach-E bought this quarter does not revive that credit. Ford's station-or-cash choice is a company offer, not a tax credit.
