Kia Sets US Market EV Sales Record For First Half Of 2024

Kia’s total US sales are down almost 8,000 units for the first half of 2024 but that’s still enough to make it Kia’s second best first half ever. More importantly, Kia’s EV sales are growing fast with 112 percent growth, year-over-year, so far.

Earlier this week, Kia announced that last month was their third consecutive month selling more than 5,000 EVs per month, a detail that lets us figure out how well the Kia Niro EV has been selling this year too (something Kia rarely reports as they usually count Niro EV sales with the two Niro hybrid variants, together). Let’s dig into those numbers.

First, since we know Kia sold “over 5,000” EVs (but not exactly how many), we can subtract the 2,171 EV6s that Kia sold in the US last month as well as the 1,905 EV9s it also sold last month from that figure (which I’ll say is 5,001 conservatively). That would mean Kia sold at least 925 Kia Niro EVs last month out of the total Niro sales figure of 3,381. I would estimate that the actual number of Niro EVs sold last month is higher than 925 since the Niro EV typically has about a 30% or more share of total Niro sales. Of course “over 5,000” could also mean 5,099 or more, and such a figure would be more than 30% of Niro sales. Since we know that Kia has sold a combined 29,392 EVs in the US through June, I can subtract out all the EV6 and EV9 sales from that total (10,941 and 9,671 respectively), to confirm that Kia has sold 8,780 Niro EVs in the US for the first half of 2024. 

If Kia keeps up its EV sales pace, they should be able to surpass 60,000 units sold by the end of year, which would represent a nearly 100% increase in its EV sales from 2023, if that turns out to be true. While some may scoff at 60,000 units sold, what matters here is the pace at which Kia seems to be scaling their production and sales of EVs: doubling them (potentially) in a year is quite significant, especially among all the news about EV sales declining. In fact, when we combine Kia’s EV sales with its sister companies, Hyundai and Genesis, the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) continues to outsell every other EV manufacturer in the US except for Tesla, including Ford and GM, 

So why does this matter? It matters because in the US, Kia is soon going to introduce what may become its best selling EV to date, the EV3 SUV and not too long after that Kia will also release the EV4 sedan. While other manufacturers aren’t sitting on their hands and will also be rolling out new, less expensive EV models (though Tesla may not be one of those companies), Kia, Hyundai and Genesis are growing sales faster and in greater numbers than most other brands/brand families. My advice to anyone that doesn’ question the EV sales are tanking because people don’t want them or they cost too much narrative, or for anyone that may believe hybrids are going to far outpace EV sales growth in the US market for the foreseeable future: you may want to check the numbers and keep your eye on the Korean EV manufacturers (as well as Ford, GM, etc.).

What do you think about Kia’s remarkable sales growth during a time of declining EV interest? Is it just a flash in the pan or are Kia’s EV sales bound to keep growing rapidly? Please leave your comments and answers below.

Images courtesy of Kia.

Justin Hart has owned and driven electric vehicles for over 16 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.