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A couple days ago, I wrote about Kia’s electric vehicle sales dropping more than 50% in December. That wasn’t a great result, but more or less what was expected. The question is more about how much they rebound in 2026. I expected to see similar results from other automakers, but just opening Nissan’s latest sales report, it’s much worse….
Nissan’s electric vehicle sales dropped off a cliff in the 4th quarter.
The Nissan LEAF went from 3,645 sales in the 4th quarter of 2024 to 500 sales in the 4th quarter of 2025, an 86.3% drop.
The Nissan ARIYA went from 4,901 sales in the 4th quarter of 2024 to 77 sales in the 4th quarter of 2025, an 98.4% drop.
That’s a truly concerning drop in sales. The good news is there’s a new 2026 version of the Nissan LEAF that is one of the most compelling, best electric car buys on the market — great value for money — so it should still sell well in 2026. It could even be that the new LEAF completely Osborned the old LEAF and the ARIYA. I wouldn’t buy the old LEAF or ARIYA knowing the 2026 LEAF is what it is.
Overall, though, Nissan’s EV sales weren’t great across the whole year. The LEAF’s sales dropped from 11,226 to 5,149, 54.1%, and the ARIYA’s sales dropped from 19,798 to 14,906, 24.7%. So, yeah, the rush to buy these EVs before the $7,500 US tax credit ran out didn’t beat the lack of interest in buying them after the tax credit expired — or in general.
I’m going to stick with a little optimism here, though, and believe that the 2026 Nissan LEAF and the Osborne effect are the biggest reason sales were down so much in 2025.
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