Heading into 2025, I would’ve guessed that Tesla’s overhauled Model Y crossover would have been this year’s biggest car launch—at least as far as this EV website is concerned. But Tesla’s momentum is fading, and it’s Toyota that just dropped the biggest bomb of the year so far.
The sixth-generation RAV4 SUV is here. Most importantly, every version of it has at least one electric motor. Just like before, Toyota will sell you a hybrid RAV4 and a plug-in hybrid one. But starting with the 2026 model year, the purely gas-powered RAV4 is no more.
This is a very big deal. The RAV4 consistently ranks as America’s most popular non-truck vehicle. Last year, Toyota sold some 475,000 RAV4s in this country, landing behind only the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-Series trucks. With the flip of a switch, Toyota is about to get far more Americans to choose far cleaner vehicles. And most of them won’t even think twice about it.
It pulled the same trick with the Camry (America’s eighth-best-selling vehicle) last year. Switching that car to hybrid-only gave a massive boost to Toyota’s electrified car sales, which accounted for nearly half of its overall U.S. business last year. The RAV4 is a far bigger seller. And as a crossover, it’s the exact vehicle type that U.S. buyers want.
Toyota hasn’t shared fuel economy figures for the new models, so we’ll have to use last year’s stats to put this all into context. The 2025 non-hybrid RAV4 got 30 miles to the gallon. The hybrid got 39 mpg, so it uses about 25% less gas, all else being equal. If the nearly quarter-million annual non-hybrid RAV4 sales become hybrids, we’re talking about a whole lot less gasoline consumption over time.
And that’s not even accounting for the new RAV4 PHEV, which has a longer electric range than before (50 miles) and now comes with DC fast-charging capability. Those upgrades should make it more appealing, for one, and push owners to drive more miles on electricity alone.
This brings us to the elephant in the room: The RAV4 Hybrid still burns gas. No matter how popular or efficient hybrids get, they’re an insufficient long-term solution for our worsening climate crisis. Studies show that EVs are far cleaner to operate, and a no-gas future should be the ultimate goal.
But the transition to electric cars won’t happen overnight. Between the Republican trifecta’s gutting of pro-EV policies and general trepidation among mainstream car buyers, EV sales growth in America is looking rockier than ever. And if people are going to keep buying combustion vehicles no matter what for some time, those cars might as well sip gas instead of gulping it.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
