Not Toyota, Not Honda: Kia and Hyundai Are the Fastest-Growing Hybrid Brands in 2026

Toyota remains the biggest player in the US hybrid car market according to Q3 data from Cox Automotive, but it is not the fastest growing. That title goes to Kia, which sold 36,000 more hybrid vehicles in the last quarter compared with the same time last year. Its sister brand Hyundai was not far behind, selling 30,000 more hybrids than it did the previous year.

Toyota still shifted 32,000 more hybrid vehicles than it did a year ago, giving it a 44% share of the overall hybrid market \u2014 a slightly smaller share in percentage terms than last year, despite selling more hybrids than before. Honda and Subaru also recorded higher hybrid sales than in Q3 2025. EVs, by contrast, made up around 6% of the market in Q3 2026, a significant drop compared with the same period in 2025.

Hyundai\u2019s hybrid surge is the standout. The company celebrated its best-ever October in the US, selling 73,452 vehicles for the month, with hybrid sales up 50% for the year through October and up 20% in October alone. Total sales for the year reached 770,916, up 3% on the same period last year.

Hyundai is hardly new to hybrids \u2014 its first mainstream hybrid appeared in 2009 \u2014 but the current wave is different: it is the mainstream battleground now, not a niche. Toyota has made bold moves of its own, with the Camry and RAV4 now available only as hybrids, and it still outsells Hyundai by a comfortable margin. But with October sales reports in, Toyota should be looking over its shoulder.