Kia America reports its ninth consecutive year-over-year monthly sales increase in the United States. In April, the South Korean brand sold 68,205 vehicles (up 15.5 percent year-over-year). During the first four months of the year, the company delivered 252,314 vehicles (up 20 percent).
Unfortunately, sales of the all-electric Kia EV6 do not look as good. Actually, sales decreased quite significantly in the past three months, reaching 1,241 in April (down 53 percent year-over-year). That’s about 1.8 percent of the brand’s total volume.
The model averages at around 1,000 units per month over the past seven months, losing its steam from the initial rush when more than 2,000 units were sold in early 2022.
The rate of sales decreased in the second half of 2022, which suggests that it might have something to do with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) and the lack of eligibility for the $7,500 federal tax credit.
Kia BEV sales last month:
So far this year, over 4,630 Kia EV6 have been sold in the US (down 41 percent year-over-year), which is also 1.8 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.
This year, Kia Niro EV sales amounted to 2,688 units in Q1 (down 24 percent year-over-year), and we are waiting for data for the month of April (those numbers come later, through the company’s different report).
Unfortunately, the manufacturer does not report sales of other plug-in models, as they are counted together with conventional or non-rechargeable hybrid versions.
It will be interesting whether Kia will be able to improve EV6 sales later this year (see the 2023 model year lineup here) or we will have to wait for the upcoming all-new Kia EV9 model – a large, three-row SUV, based on the E-GMP platform, to see some rebound.
