Kia America reports outstanding sales results in the United States with the best-ever February, following the best-ever January. The company sold 60,859 cars (up 24 percent year-over-year) last month and 112,842 so far this year (up 23 percent year-over-year).
The South Korean manufacturer briefly noted that its electrified car sales (BEVs, PHEVs, HEVs) increased by 32 percent year-over-year (the exact volume was not disclosed), however, the newest and currently most important Kia’s all-electric model seems to be struggling.
In February, Kia sold 1,294 EV6 in the US. That’s 39 percent less than a year ago when the model was launched (2,125). At the same time, it was the best result since September (1,440). The EV6 accounted for 2.1 percent of the brand’s total volume.
The first thought is that the Kia EV6 without eligibility for the $7,500 federal tax credit is simply suffering from lower demand, although there might be also other issues, including a lower supply of cars from South Korea.
So far this year, over 2,400 Kia EV6s were sold in the US (up 13 percent year-over-year), which is also 3.1 percent of Kia’s total volume.
For reference, during the 12 months of 2022, Kia sold a total of 20,498 EV6 in the US and an additional 8,209 Niro EV, which in total means over 28,700 units. All-electric car sales more than tripled compared to 2021.
We don’t know the Kia Niro EV sales in February yet (those numbers come later, through the company’s different report), but in the past, it has been usually from a few hundred to over 1,000 units a month.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer does not report sales of other plug-in models, as they are counted together with conventional or non-rechargeable hybrid versions.
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For Kia, the near-term boost might be the new performance-oriented Kia EV6 GT version (above the GT-Line trim), which can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.4 seconds, and the upcoming all-new Kia EV9 model – a large, three-row SUV, based on the E-GMP platform.
In the long-term, crucial will be the local production of all-electric cars in the US.
