Audi’s U.S. Sales Fell 15% in Q3 as EVs Dropped 94%. Everything Else Rose 35%
One electric SUV, the Q6 e-tron, lost more sales than the whole brand did. The Q5 and Q3 now make up nearly half of Audi’s U.S. deliveries.
Audi of America delivered 39,751 vehicles in the third quarter, 15% fewer than a year earlier, and the whole decline comes from its electric lineup. The eight e-tron model lines in Audi's third-quarter delivery report added up to 1,103 vehicles, down from 18,071. Everything else rose almost 35%.
It is the same pattern as at its sister brand, only sharper: Volkswagen's U.S. sales fell 10.9% in the quarter and would have grown 5.5% without its two electric models. Audi published a table on Monday with one line of commentary and no electric total. The e-tron and non-e-tron figures here are our arithmetic from its model rows.
One model lost more sales than the brand did
The Q6 e-tron went from 10,059 deliveries to 619. That is 9,440 fewer, against a brand-wide drop of 7,007. The A6 Sportback e-tron fell from 3,532 to 182, the Q4 e-tron from 2,956 to eight, and the e-tron GT from 652 to 102.
A year ago, e-tron models made up nearly 39% of Audi's U.S. deliveries. Last quarter, they were 2.8%.
The comparison is lopsided. The third quarter of 2025 was when buyers rushed to claim the $7,500 federal EV tax credit before it expired on Sept. 30. Audi's report doesn't give a reason for the drop, and it doesn't say whether any of these models have ended production or are simply out of stock.
The Q5 and Q3 carry the showroom
- Q5: 11,371, up 17%
- Q3: 6,960, up 24%
- Q7: 6,071, up 42%
- A5: 5,315, up 53%
- Q8: 4,095, up 103%
- A3: 2,555, up 58%
- A6: 1,789, up 36%
The Q5 and Q3 together account for 46% of Audi's U.S. volume. Add the Q7 and Q8, and four SUV lines make up 72%. Audi counts plug-in hybrid and S versions inside those rows, so the table doesn't show how many were hybrids.
The company points to double-digit growth for the A5, A6, Q3, and Q5, all recently redesigned. Without the e-tron lines, deliveries rose by 9,961 vehicles.
Still far behind BMW and Mercedes
Audi's rivals grew over the same three months. BMW brand sales rose 3.4% to 100,210, and Mercedes-Benz USA sold 76,200 passenger cars, up 4%. Audi's total is about 40% of BMW's. The wider market was close to flat, as covered in our roundup of third-quarter sales.
Through nine months, Audi stands at 107,667 deliveries, down 16%. The quarter was still its best of the year: the total rose 4.5% from the 38,030 it reported for the second quarter.
What comes next
Audi says the Q9, its first full-size SUV, and a new Q7 are planned to arrive in the fourth quarter. The lineup will be topped by the 591-hp SQ9, which uses a twin-turbo V8. The outgoing Q7 gained 42% in its last full quarter before the replacement.
The report says nothing about what replaces the lost electric volume. Until Audi does, its U.S. results depend on the Q5, the Q3, and two large SUVs that haven't reached dealers yet.
