KIA sets a global record for electric vehicle sales in May 2024

The South Korean manufacturer has announced that its global vehicle sales in May fell by 2.1 percent compared with the same month last year, reaching a total of 264,313 units. However, sales of the company’s fully electric models rose significantly, setting a new record.

In May, KIA’s electric model sales reached 19,407 units, an increase of 93 percent over the previous year. The company also says that electric vehicles accounted for 7.5 percent of the brand’s total sales volume.

KIA currently offers three models globally based on the E-GMP platform – EV5, EV6 and EV9 – and plans to launch two more – the EV3 and EV4 – soon. In addition, the company also sells the Niro EV, Soul EV, Bingo EV and Ray EV electric models – although the last two are only on sale in South Korea.

The retail sales recorded by the company include all of the electric models just mentioned. The company is also confident that sales of this type of vehicle will receive a new boost during the second half of 2024 with the launch of the new EV3 compact SUV.

KIA’s new electric vehicles continue to receive customer support

On the other hand, according to the company, wholesale shipments of E-GMP platform models came close to 12,500 units, an increase of 29% compared with the same month last year. This figure is closely related to production volume and includes the EV3, EV6 and EV9 in South Korea, as well as the EV5 in China. It is important to note, however, that these figures are unaudited and preliminary.

Analysing sales by model, the company’s best-selling electric vehicle in May was the EV6 with 6,081 wholesale units. Although this represents a 37 percent decrease compared with the previous year, it is considered normal, and sales of this model are expected to soar once the updated version already announced reaches the market.

Meanwhile, the EV5 set a new monthly wholesale sales record in the Chinese market, with a total of 1,732 units. Meanwhile, a few initial units of the EV3 began leaving the production plant this past May. EV9 sales, meanwhile, rose 11 percent, reaching 2,760 units.

So far this year, KIA’s retail electric vehicle sales have exceeded 80,000 units, with an estimated growth rate of up to 75%. Meanwhile, wholesale shipments of E-GMP platform models exceeded 55,000 units.