Kia Reports All-Time Best US Annual Sales For 2023

Kia wrapped up 2023 with its best ever annual US sales figures, with electrified vehicles (EVs, plug-in hybrids and hybrids) seeing a 41% increase over their best annual record. Clearly, Kia’s star continues to rise, but how significant are these numbers?

First, Kia recently reported that it sold a total of 782,451 vehicles in the US last year (this figure apparently includes vehicles not sold through dealerships, since the figure for dealership sales was 725,817). That amounts to a 12% increase over its previous best ever sales year (2021). That just beats the industry’s overall sales increase, year over year for 2023 at 11.6%, according to Cox Automotive. That also means Kia’s increase was a little better than rival’s like Ford, Toyota, and VW among others. Six Kia models set all-time US sales records in 2023, too: Carnival (up 93%); Niro (up 26%); Seltos (up 17%); Sportage (up 12%); Telluride (up 11%); and Forte (up 7%). And in news that surprises absolutely no one, the vast majority of Kia’s sales growth in 2023 is due to sales of their SUVs (up 16% for the year and representing 72% of Kia’s total 2023 sales volume in the US).

With the vast majority of Kia’s sales being SUVs, which are less fuel efficient than sedans, hatchbacks and crossovers, these stats may otherwise erode Kia’s environmentally conscious image slightly. Luckily, Kia has prioritized the electrification of its SUVs and larger vehicles, perhaps more so than any other mainstream manufacturer. For example: of Kia’s 5 SUV models, the best selling Sportage and 4th best selling Sorento include either plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or hybrid (HEV) versions and 1 is only offered as an EV, the all-new EV9. Kia also has electrified its best selling crossover vehicles: the Niro (available in HEV, PHEV and EV versions only) and the electric only EV6. Kia also plans to continue electrification of its fleet with the Carnival due for an HEV version soon and additional EV models on the horizon in the EV3 and EV4. That adds up to more than half (8 of 13) of all announced Kia models through 2025, and I would expect HEV versions of the Telluride and Seltos SUVs at some point too. Otherwise, they may be discontinued and replaced by full EV equivalents, given Kia’s plans to introduce several more EV models by 2025, however that seems unlikely given these two model popularity and Kia’s long term plans to move away from PHEVs and focus on HEVs and EVs. I would expect to see more news, perhaps for the 2025 model year or later, about at least one of these two SUVs getting an HEV model by the end of 2024.

Speaking of Kia’s electrified vehicles, its EV9 got off to a solid start its first full month on sale in the US (December 2023), selling 1,113 units. An interesting aside: the EV9 sold nearly double the December sales of Toyota’s only EV in the US right now. Of course Toyota is focused on hybrids and not EVs for the US market, but this has to sting Toyota just a little I would think (if only the electrified Kia Stinger replacement were here now too!). Kia’s EV6 on the other hand saw its US sales decline in 2023, down 8% according to Kia, which was more than likely due to the loss of federal tax incentives for that model, as well as interest rates and Kia dealer’s propensity for charging markups. Finally, we come to Kia’s best selling electrified vehicle, the Niro. Its sales were up 26% for the year, for a total of 36, 300 units. Niro sales are likely broken down roughly as follows: 55-60% of sales are the HEV model, 30-35% the EV model, and 5-15% the PHEV model. Finally, Kia also sells HEV and PHEV versions of the Sportage and Sorento, which I have previously estimated to make up somewhere around 30% or so (combined) of those models’ US sales, a figure I would suggest we conservatively downgrade to around 25% until or unless Kia releases actual sales figures for their HEV and PHEV models. 25% of Sportage sales would be 35,195 and 25% of Sorento sales would be about 22,156. If we combine those with the electrified models’ sales with those for the Niro, EV6 and EV9, we get a grand total of 113,648 electrified Kia vehicle sales in the US for 2023 (with roughly 32,000 of those being EVs, around 19,000 being PHEVs, and the remaining 62,000+ being HEVs). Taken together then what we see is a modest rise in Kia’s EV and PHEV sales, with a more significant increase in Kia’s HEV sales numbers, meaning that in terms of Kia’s progress toward lowering the overall emissions of its US fleet, they are making slow but steady progress. The fact that Kia is electrifying more of its larger, less efficient vehicles first, is also a promising sign and hopefully we won’t have much longer to wait for the rest of their large vehicles to be electrified too.

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Images courtesy of Kia.

Justin Hart has owned and driven electric vehicles for over 15 years, including a first generation Nissan LEAF, second generation Chevy Volt, Tesla Model 3, an electric bicycle and most recently a Kia Sorento PHEV. He is also an avid SUP rider, poet, photographer and wine lover. He enjoys taking long EV and PHEV road trips to beautiful and serene places with the people he loves. Follow Justin on Torque News Kia or X for regular electric and hybrid news coverage.