But the current state of electric vehicle development could indicate that this evolution will take a very long time, at least in the U.S., where political headwinds have forced automakers to cut tens of billions of dollars in carefully planned efforts to eliminate tailpipe emissions.
ZDX, we barely knew it
2025 Acura ZDX Showdown: Why the Type S is worth spending thousands more
The difference between the Type S and A-Spec AWD is $5,000, and you can justify every cent.
Every major automaker wants to be ready with a compelling all-electric product when the tide turns, and it appears one of them has a customer base eagerly awaiting the transition, based on newly compiled 2025 sales results.
Honda and its luxury division Acura 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 from GM Partnership
Both the ZDX, which arrived in May 2024, and the all-electric Honda Prologue, released two months earlier, were co-developed with General Motors, using the Ultium battery platform. GM assembled the ZDX at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant (next to Cadillac Lyriq), while the Prologue comes from GM’s Ramos Arizpe, Mexico plant.
The GM connection explains Honda’s half-hearted efforts to push both the Prologue and ZDX, but what’s surprising is how many were sold in the US in 2025.
ZDX canned despite major growth
Honda delivered 39,194 Prologuesan 18 percent increase from the 2024 launch year, and Acura sold 12,004 units ZDXs through September, when Acura announced its sudden departure, which not coincidentally aligned with the Trump administration’s elimination of a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. It’s not every day that an automaker cancels a car program after sales have increased 62 percent, but that’s what happened to ZDX.
There were alignment issues at the Spring Hill assembly plant, but the generous spiffs and conquest bonuses on the hood suggested the ZDX was losing a lot of money – a common story in the EV market. The fate of the ZDX should have been clear by the end of July Acura donated 75 ZDXs to The Nature Conservancy to support its clean energy efforts to save the planet.
ZDX beat Lexus RZ in sales
Despite the ZDX’s quick departure as the duck in hiding from the Acura nest, it and the Prologue have shown that Honda has an enthusiastic customer base ready for the EV transition. For context, even with its short sales year, the ZDX beat its all-electric rival almost two to one, Lexus RZwhich made only 6,400 deliveries in all of 2025. And the ZDX almost surpassed the famous ones BMW iX.
Similarly, the Prologue decimated the Nissan Ariya electric crossover by more than two to one, which fell 25 percent to 14,906 units in 2025 and didn’t return for the 2026 model year — another cash-fueled bonfire.
Acura RSX will be launched this year
It will take deep pockets and a solid commitment to stay in the EV game, and the 25 percent tariffs on non-US content for the Prologue make for a questionable future, but Honda has an EV foundation to build on.
The next test is just around the corner. The ZDX will be replaced by the RSX all-electric crossover, which was developed entirely in-house and will be assembled at Honda’s new EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio. The expected arrival is in the second half of 2026.
Honda Passport, Acura ADX doing well
Overall, American Honda (including Acura) remained stable in terms of US sales, with deliveries of 1.4 million vehicles. Deliveries of trucks and crossovers rose 2.4 percent and 4.7 percent for the Honda and Acura brands, respectively, while sales of sedans and coupes fell 3.9 percent and 11.5 percent for Honda and Acura. The luxury division sold 133,433 vehicles in 2025, an increase of 0.8 percent compared to 2024.
Honda’s biggest winner was the all-new 2026 Passport, up 69.8 percent to 55,231 units.
Acura’s all-new compact ADX crossover ended the year with 20,133 deliveries. Acura claims 80 percent of those deliveries were to retail, while many rivals rely more heavily on fleet sales. For 2025 overall, Acura says the ADX achieved 19 percent of the segment’s retail sales, good for No. 3, likely behind Audi Q3 and BMW X1.
Source: Honda
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