- New figures from Kia show the automaker’s sales are down both in September, and year-to-date, compared with 2023.
- EV6 registrations fell in September but thanks to the arrival of the EV9, electric sales are up.
- Kia’s sales have fallen in seven out of this year’s nine months.
Kia isn’t enjoying the smoothest ride in 2024. Although it put out a release crowing about breaking sales records in September thanks to electric and plug-in hybrid deliveries rising 43 and 11 percent respectively, the true picture isn’t as rosy as it may seem.
Let’s start with the overall figures. Kia sold 58,913 cars in September, down from 67,264 in the same month last year. The year-to-date stats say that isn’t a blip. Between January and September of this year Kia sold 584,170 cars, down from 604,674 in 2023. Sales have fallen in seven out of nine months in 2024.
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Now let’s talk about those record-busting EV numbers. Kia isn’t lying: it sold 3,708 electric vehicles this past September compared with only 2,084 last September. But the EV9, which registered a solid 2,096 sales this past four weeks, wasn’t available last year, explaining the uptick. The EV6, which was available in both months, suffered a 23 percent sales drop this September.
There’s a good chance that some would-be EV6 buyers ended up going for an EV9, which could partly explain the drop in crossover interest, but the good news for Kia is that EV6 registrations are still up overall this year (15,985 vs 14,798). They might not be by the end of December, though.
Kia sales figures
Although some of Kia’s other models are also up overall this year (Forte, Seltos, Sportage, Sorento and Carnival), not one of the automaker’s models that was on sale last September performed better this September.
Kia isn’t the only automaker struggling to get a handle on declining sales. Its Korean partner brand Hyundai reported a 9 percent drop in registrations last month, and the pair’s upscale cousin Genesis was down 1.6 percent (though up 2.5 percent year-to-date), Auto News reports.
Not everyone is so keen to forget the past few weeks, however. Mazda’s sales were up 6.5 percent, the fifth consecutive month of good news for the Japanese brand.
