Hyundai Motor America is having a very good autumn. The brand reported record September total sales of 77,439 units today, a 9% gain over September 2025, and wrapped the third quarter at 246,896 units, up 3% year over year and the strongest Q3 in company history.
The headline number inside September is hybrids. Hybrid volume jumped 39% year over year and accounted for 28% of everything Hyundai sold in the month, with the Santa Fe HEV and Sonata HEV each setting September records of their own. That 28% share builds on a pattern that has held through the summer: hybrids represented 29% of August volume on a 33% surge, and July saw hybrid sales jump 35% with all-time monthly records for the Sonata HEV, Elantra HEV, and Tucson HEV. Three consecutive months of hybrid records is a run, not a blip.
On the ICE and HEV side of the ledger, four nameplates drove double-digit September gains. The Palisade led the brand at plus-52%, reaching 10,327 units. The Sonata gained 39% to 5,156. The Tucson climbed 32% to 23,164, which also made it the top-selling Hyundai nameplate for the month by a wide margin and the engine of a record Q3 for the compact SUV. The Santa Fe rose 21% to 12,227. Year to date through September, the Tucson sits at 181,687 units, followed by the Santa Fe at 103,115 and the Palisade at 98,682.
The EV picture is sharply different. The Ioniq 5 fell 65% in September to 2,928 units against 8,408 a year ago, and the Ioniq 6 essentially disappeared from the monthly chart with just three sales compared with 814 in September 2025. Year to date, the Ioniq 5 is down 24% to 31,112, and the Ioniq 6 has moved only 1,348 units against 9,132 in the same period of 2025, a decline of 85%. The Ioniq 9, the new three-row addition to the lineup, sold 374 units in September and 6,521 year to date, providing some offset but nothing close to what the two older models are losing.
For the full year so far, Hyundai has moved 697,464 units, up 3% versus the same nine months of 2025. That modest YTD gain reflects the August softness, when total sales dipped 2% against a particularly strong August 2025 comparison. September’s 9% rebound brings the trajectory back in the right direction.
Separately, Hyundai will reveal the 2027 Tucson tonight via livestream, a timely move given that the current Tucson is the brand’s best-selling nameplate and just posted its best Q3 ever. The brand also announced a long-term partnership with the Atlanta Braves through the 2029 season, and the Hope on Wheels charitable arm surpassed $303 million in lifetime giving to pediatric cancer research at its annual gala.
The EV declines are the number Hyundai’s product planners will be watching most closely. Hybrid strength is real and growing, but a combined Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 September total of fewer than 3,000 units against nearly 10,000 a year ago is a steep drop for a brand that spent heavily to build EV infrastructure and credibility. The 2027 Tucson reveal tonight may offer some signal about how Hyundai intends to balance that equation going forward.
Source: Hyundai. Images courtesy of Hyundai.
