Kia’s sales have risen sharply, but electric cars continue to struggle

Kia continues to cook this year, with the Korean automaker posting its best October ever. The automaker sold just over 69,000 cars last month, surpassing October 2024 sales by just 94 units. But some models definitely did better than others.

The Sportage remains Kia’s best-selling car, with just over 16,000 crossovers sold in October, up 17.4 percent. The K4 compact sedan was Kia’s second best-selling car last month, narrowly beating the three-row Telluride. The two models even experienced a decline in sales last month compared to the same period the year before.

Telluride sales fell 11.6 percent, while K4 sales fell 22.6 percent, but other models helped offset the loss. Sales of Kia Carnival and K5 increased by 34.5 percent and 31.2 percent respectively. As of October, Kia has sold 705,105 cars this year. That is an increase of 8.0 percent. Last year, Kia sold 50,000 fewer copies this time.

But it’s not all good news for Kia; its EVs continue to take a hit.

Two models that saw a significant drop in sales last month were the Kia EV6 and EV9. Sales of the two electric vehicles were already below 2024 levels in October, and they don’t appear likely to recover anytime soon.

Here’s what the entire sales chart looks like over the past month:

Kia sold just 666 EV9s and 508 EV6s last month, down 65.7 percent and 70.7 percent respectively. In September, Kia sold 3,094 EV9s and 2,116 EV6s, before the federal electric vehicle tax credit expired. These figures are unlikely to recover anytime soon, but the rest of the Kia range remains popular with buyers.

“Despite the numerous challenges facing the automotive industry, Kia is focused on long-term growth and supporting our customers with a diverse model lineup that offers excellent value, and we remain on track to achieve our third consecutive annual sales record,” said Eric Watson, vice president of sales operations for Kia America.