- Kia sold 64,502 cars in January, a 13 percent year-over-year jump.
- EV9 sales collapsed 65 percent in the first month of the year.
- Seltos, Carnival, and Niro all posted strong double-digit gains.
Kia has enjoyed a very strong start to the year, reporting a significant increase in sales through January. However, as is so often the case with monthly sales reports, things are a little more nuanced than they may seem, as two Kia EVs dropped in popularity rapidly.
Last month, Kia sold 674 EV9s in the United States, marking a sharp 45 percent drop. The figure points to just how pivotal the $7,500 federal EV tax credit has been in supporting demand.
Read: Kia’s EV Sales Collapsed, Yet It Just Did Something It’s Never Done Before
The EV6, Kia’s lower-priced electric offering, fared even worse. Sales fell from 1,542 in January 2025 to just 540 units this year, a steep 65 percent year-over-year decline. This slide comes despite the EV6 receiving a comprehensive update last year, suggesting that styling changes alone haven’t been enough to maintain momentum.
But, overall, there’s plenty for Kia to celebrate. It shifted a total of 64,502 vehicles in the United States in January, a 13 percent increase year-over-year. Sales of several of Kia’s most popular models surged, although there were a couple that followed a similar trend to the EV6 and EV9.
Sales of the K4/Forte remain remarkably stable with 11,642 cars, slightly up on the 11,616 sold last January. Demand for the K5 rose from 4,357 units to 6,276, and sales of the Niro also jumped from 1,202 to 3,170. The Seltos also enjoyed a particularly fruitful start to the year with 5,278 sold, up from 2,840.
Kia has also reported a 7 percent increase in Telluride sales to 9,424 and a huge 60 percent surge in Carnival sales to 5,879. Things weren’t so pretty for the Soul as it dropped from 3,554 to just 1,731. Similarly, Sorento sales unexpectedly fell from 6,871 to 5,904 units.
On the upside, the Sportage became Kia’s volume leader for the month, delivering 13,984 units, up 23 percent from the year before.
Kia America’s vice president of sales operations, Eric Watson, said the strong start to the year reflects momentum the brand has built over the past three years. While he didn’t address the drop in EV sales, he highlighted the new additions to the brand’s lineup.
“With the all-new flagship 2027 Telluride SUV, now available with a hybrid variant, and the highly anticipated K4 hatchback arriving in showrooms soon, 2026 will once again prove the value of offering a balanced lineup to U.S. customers and we are confident that our upward trajectory will continue.”
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