BrightDrop Sales Grow 869%! – CleanTechnica

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While consumer-oriented electric cars are getting a lot of attention for their soaring US sales in the 3rd quarter, an electric commercial vehicle brand from GM is actually throwing up the biggest growth on a percentage basis.

GM’s BrightDrop division, which sells the 400 electric van and 600 electric van, logged a massive 869.11% increase in deliveries year over year in the 3rd quarter. Well above the 246 units BrightDrop sold in the 3rd quarter of 2024, the brand sold 2,384 units last quarter.

There was a growth in sales as the year went along. The company sold 274 electric vans in the 1st quarter, then 1,318 vans in the 2nd quarter, and then 2,384 vans in the 3rd quarter. Before the 2nd quarter, its previous quarterly record was 537 sales in the 4th quarter of 2024.

It’s not clear if these were all straight sales to real customers or if these BrightDrop electric vans jumped into the loophole GM and Ford identified with the help of the IRS in which the companies basically sold EVs to themselves in order to take advantage of the $7,500 tax credit and then will pass that subsidy on to consumers through discounted leases. Considering fleet managers’ propensity to lease commercial fleet vehicles, I would guess that GM used the loophole for these vehicles too, but I don’t see any confirmation of that.

Either way, we can assume the numbers will drop significantly in the 4th quarter. With the EV tax credit expiring on September 30, there was surely a rush to buy the BrightDrop electric vans and there will now be a lull in sales for a couple of quarters, at least. However, will positive experiences with these electric commercial vehicles lead to solid sales growth again in 2026? We will see.