We’re told by auto executives around the world that full electrification is coming, that internal combustion has a shelf life and that eventually the economics will line up so battery-electric vehicles will be less expensive to own and operate than the gasoline burners we’ve known for 120 years.
But the current state of EVs might suggest this evolution is going to take a really long time, at least in the U.S., where political headwinds have forced automakers to scrap tens of billions of dollars in carefully planned efforts to eliminate tailpipe emissions.
ZDX, We Hardly Knew Ye
Every major automaker wants to be ready with compelling all-electric product when the tide turns, and it appears one of them has a customer base that is eager for the transition, based on the newly compiled 2025 sales results.
Honda and its Acura luxury division sold just two EV nameplates for much of 2025, until Acura pulled the plug on the ZDX crossover in September — after just one model year.
Both Products Of GM Partnership
Both the ZDX, which arrived in May 2024, and the all-electric Honda Prologue, which came two months earlier, were co-developed with General Motors, using its Ultium battery platform. GM assembled the ZDX at its plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, (alongside Cadillac Lyriq) while the Prologue comes from GM’s plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.
The GM connection explains Honda’s half-hearted efforts in pushing both the Prologue and ZDX, but what’s surprising is how many of them sold in 2025 in the U.S.
ZDX Canned, Despite Big Growth
Honda delivered 39,194 Prologues, an 18-percent increase over the launch year tally in 2024, and Acura sold 12,004 ZDXs through September, when Acura announced its sudden departure, by no coincidence aligning with the Trump administration’s elimination of a $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs. It’s not every day that an automaker cancels a vehicle program after it grew sales by 62 percent, but that’s what happened to ZDX.
There were reported alignment issues at the Spring Hill assembly plant, but the generous spiffs and conquest bonuses on the hood suggested the ZDX was losing lots of money — a common tale in the EV market. The ZDX’s fate should have been clear in late July when Acura donated 75 ZDXs to The Nature Conservancy to support its clean energy efforts to save the planet.
ZDX Pummeled Lexus RZ In Sales
Despite the ZDX’s quick exit as the runt of the Acura litter, it and the Prologue have demonstrated that Honda has an eager pool of customers who are ready for the EV transition. For context, the ZDX, even with its short sales year, pummeled by nearly two to one its all-electric rival, Lexus RZ, which managed only 6,400 deliveries in all of 2025. And the ZDX nearly outsold the well-regarded BMW iX.
Likewise, the Prologue decimated by more than two to one the Nissan Ariya electric crossover, which fell 25 percent in 2025 to 14,906 units and did not return for the 2026 model year — yet another bonfire fueled by cash.
Acura RSX Launches This Year
It takes deep pockets and firm commitment to stay in the EV game, and the 25-percent tariffs on non-U.S. content for the Prologue makes for a questionable future, but Honda has an EV foundation on which to build.
The next test is just around the corner. Replacing the ZDX will be the RSX all-electric crossover, fully developed in-house and to be assembled at Honda’s new EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio. It is scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2026.
Honda Passport, Acura ADX Doing Well
Overall, American Honda (including Acura) was flat in terms of U.S. sales, delivering 1.4 million vehicles. Truck and crossover deliveries were up 2.4 percent and 4.7 percent for the Honda and Acura brands, respectively, while sedan and coupe sales fell 3.9 percent and 11.5 percent for Honda and Acura. The luxury division sold 133,433 vehicles in 2025, up 0.8 percent from 2024.
Honda’s biggest gainer was the all-new 2026 Passport, up 69.8 percent to 55,231 units.
Acura’s all-new compact ADX crossover finished the year with 20,133 deliveries. Acura claims 80 percent of those deliveries were retail, while many rivals rely more heavily on fleet sales. For 2025 overall, Acura says the ADX achieved 19 percent of retail sales in the segment, good for No. 3, likely behind Audi Q3 and BMW X1.
Source: Honda
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