TL; DR
At least a dozen electric car models in the U.S. have been discontinued, discontinued or canceled in 2026, including Tesla’s Model S and Model X, Honda’s entire 0-series, Volvo EX30, BMW’s i4 and iX, and numerous Hyundai and Kia EVs. The reason is not technological failure, but the compounding effect of 25% import tariffs, 100% tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, and the end of a $7,500 federal tax credit that made imported EVs uneconomic and forced automakers to produce locally or exit the market.
At least a dozen electric car models have been suspended, discontinued or canceled in the US this year. The list includes the most recognized names in the industry: Tesla’s Model S and Model X, Honda’s entire 0 series, Volvo EX30, BMW i4 and iX, Hyundai Kona Electric and Ioniq 6, Kia Niro EV and EV6 GT, Acura RSX. Some are being replaced by newer models. Some are killed by tariffs. Some are victims of the strategic shift away from battery electric vehicles to hybrids. Two of Tesla’s oldest and most historically significant vehicles are being retired to make way for humanoid robots. The common theme is not that technology is failing. Each of these machines works. The common theme is that the economics of selling electric cars in the US in 2026 are so hostile that automakers are giving up.
Tariff victims
The largest category of discontinued electric vehicles consists of models imported from outside the United States that can no longer be sold at a profit under the current tariff regime. The Hyundai Kona Electric, which starts at about $33,000 and is one of the cheapest EVs on the American market, has been discontinued for the 2026 model year because Hyundai can’t justify shipping it from its factories in Korea under a 25 percent import tariff. The Hyundai Ioniq 6, also produced in South Korea, has been pulled from the US altogether, although a high-performance Ioniq 6 N variant will still arrive later this year. The Kia Niro EV from Kia’s Hwaseong plant in South Korea was discontinued after a combination of tariffs and slowing EV demand made the model uneconomic for American dealers. Kia also delayed GT trims of the EV6 and EV9 “until further notice” due to what the company called “changing market conditions.”
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The Volvo EX30 is the clearest example of how tariff policy can kill a product. Chinese-made electric cars are subject to a 100 percent tariff In the US, Volvo has thus moved EX30 production from China to the Ghent plant in Belgium. The Trump administration then imposed a 25 percent tariff on all imported cars. In what was supposed to be a breakthrough affordable EV with a starting price under $35,000, the EX30 now costs $40,345 in the US. Volvo sold 5,409 units in 2025. The company has confirmed that the model will not return to the US market after the 2026 model year. The EX30 remains available in Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world. Only the American market, where the tariff stack makes prices impossible, loses access to it.
Strategic retreats
Honda’s cancellation of the 0 Series is the costliest strategic retreat in the current cycle. In March, the company canceled the Honda 0 Saloon, Honda 0 SUV and Acura RSX, all three of which were planned to be built at Honda’s EV center in Marysville, Ohio. The liquidation led to associated losses of up to $15.7 billion, the company’s first annual loss since listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1957. Honda is moving toward hybrids, which set a sales record of 30,671 units in February. The company’s only remaining electric car in the United States is the Prologue model, built in Mexico in partnership with General Motors. Honda introduced a production-ready version of the Acura RSX just six months before canceling it.
Tesla’s sales problems different in nature but lead to the same result. Tesla’s oldest and most expensive cars, the Model S and Model X, accounted for less than 3 percent of the company’s total deliveries in 2025. Elon Musk announced their retirement with the phrase “discharge with honor” and said that the Fremont production lines that built them will be converted to the production of Optimus humanoid robots, with a target of one million units per year. The last Model S and Model X went out of production in early April. The Model S started at $94,990 and the Model X at $99,990, putting them in a segment where demand is declining. Musk evaluated this decision as a step towards autonomy. The market read this as Tesla choosing robots over sedans because the margin opportunity in humanoids, if realized, dwarfs the revenue from low-volume luxury EVs.
Platform links
BMW’s suspension is the most regular. The i4 sedan and iX SUV are being canceled not because of tariffs or losses, but because BMW is replacing them with a new generation of cars built on the Neue Klasse platform. The i4, which can reach 100 mph in 3.7 seconds and has a range of 333 miles, will end production at the end of 2026. Its replacement, the new i3 sedan, will be built at BMW’s Munich plant starting in August and is expected to have a range of 440 miles in the Neue Klasse architecture. The iX is replaced by the iX3, which features BMW’s Gen6 eDrive technology with improved range, faster charging and a more integrated electric system. The iX will continue to be sold in Europe, but has been discontinued in the US.
Electric vehicles are still predicted to outpace combustion sales globally until the early 2030sand BMW’s Neue Klasse program is confident that the next generation of electric cars will be significantly better and cheaper than the current generation. A company shutdown is not a retirement, but a planned obsolescence. But they’re still pulling the cars off the market at a time when America’s EV choice is shrinking. A buyer who wants a BMW i4 in December will not be able to buy one in January. An i3 replacement might be better, but it’s not available yet.
An example
The overall effect of these suspensions is that the number of electric vehicle models available to American consumers is decreasing, while global EV production and sales are increasing. EV startups have struggled for years to launch a carand now established automakers are pulling models from the US market. The reason is not a single policy. It’s the compounding effect of multiple policies: a 25 percent tariff on imported cars, a 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, the end of a $7,500 federal tax credit that made many electric vehicles cost-competitive with combustion alternatives, and ongoing Section 301 investigations that create uncertainty about future trade. Each policy can be taken individually. Together, they’ve created an environment where the only EVs that make economic sense in the US are those built in the US, and even some of them are being phased out.
The surviving models are instructive. The Ioniq 5, manufactured at Hyundai’s plant in Georgia, is still on sale. The standard EV6 and EV9 trims, built at Kia’s West Point, Georgia plant, remain on sale. Tesla continues to manufacture the Model 3, Model Y and Cybertruck in the US. Ford’s next-generation EV plant investments positioning the company for a market where local production is the only viable option. The tariff regime achieves exactly what it was designed to achieve: forcing automakers to build in America or get out of the market. The price is that American consumers have fewer electric cars to choose from at a time when the technology is better, cheaper and more diverse than ever. The cars killed in 2026 are not bad cars. The Volvo EX30 was one of the world’s best-reviewed small EVs. The Honda 0 Saloon was to redefine the company. The Tesla Model S changed the industry. They are victims of trade policy, not engineering failure, and the market they leave behind is smaller, more expensive, and more American than the one they entered.
