Against those comparisons, EVs this year saw dramatic drops, with the Equinox EV down 92.4% during the most recent quarter, at 1,905 vehicles sold. The Blazer EV was down 84.4% and Hummer EV sales fell 72.9%.
The report comes after Cox Automotive said last week that new vehicle sales have been stronger than expected this year and raised its 2026 forecast by roughly 2%, to 16.1 million units.
Hybrid vehicle sales are expected to capture a growing market share of car sales, as inflated gas prices pressure consumers.
Despite offering a broad EV lineup, the Detroit automaker only offers one hybrid vehicle, a Corvette. Experts expect GM's weakness in the sector to impact its overall sales.
Hybrids assisted other automakers in outperforming GM in third-quarter sales.
Toyota Motor reported that its EV and hybrid vehicles made up over 57% of the Japanese automaker's sales this quarter.
Toyota said sales were up 0.6% for the most recent quarter, with 633,223 vehicles sold. Sales of its electrified vehicles, which include hybrids, were up 28.5%, with 363,367 units sold.
That helped Toyota continue to narrow its gap with U.S. sales leader GM, which is now less than 136,000 units. That compares to a full-year gap of roughly 335,000 units last year.
Cox Automotive earlier this year said if such sales trends continue, Toyota could once again overtake GM to become the U.S. sales leader in the coming years.
Honda Motor, which also offers several hybrids and leads major automakers in fuel economy in the U.S., reported a 9.3% increase in U.S. third-quarter sales. Its hybrid sales were a record of more than 106,000 units during the quarter.
"We've got really high demand for hybrids," Lance Woelfer, head of American Honda Motor's U.S. sales, told CNBC. "We're finding more and more consumers are figuring out hybrids meet their needs."
High fuel prices, with an AAA national average of $4.41, were also expected to impact sales of big trucks and SUVs, sectors that GM relies on. GM's full-size pickups were relatively flat.
Each of the automaker's brands are down so far year to date, led by a 25% decline in Cadillac.
GM's lower-cost vehicles are a bright spot for the company as consumers face high inflation. The Chevrolet Trailblazer was up 51% for the third quarter, while sales of Buick Envista were up 18.4% and Chevrolet Trax up 16.3%.
Despite falling sales, Duncan Aldred, president of GM North America, remained optimistic. GM noted sales of vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines were roughly level compared to a year earlier.
"Our business is performing very well, the launch of our next-generation full-size pickup trucks is on track, and we are making investments in new vehicles, innovative technologies, and our U.S. manufacturing footprint to drive our next phase of growth," Aldred said in a statement.
GM last month announced additional details about its new V-8 engines for its pickup trucks, as it attempts to maintain leadership in truck sales.
Other automakers to release U.S. vehicle sales on Thursday for the third quarter include:
Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis, which reported roughly level sales compared with last year, led by a 29% sales increase in its Ram pickup truck and van brand. Its Jeep brand was off roughly 20%.
Nissan Motor, which reported a 1.4% increase in sales, led by increases in retail sales of its namesake brand and luxury Infiniti unit.
The Hyundai brand reported a roughly 3% increase in sales, while its luxury Genesis unit recorded a 6% uptick.
Kia announced a 7.8% increase for the quarter, including a roughly 18% increase during September. The company said its 236,659 units sold during the third quarter marks a new quarterly record for the company.
Correction: Duncan Aldred is president of GM North America. An earlier version of this story misstated his title.
