Kia Shocks the Industry with Record April Sales—Again. But Is the Real Story Its EV Dominance?
By Nik Miles
700 words | May 1, 2025
Let’s address the elephant in the showroom: While other automakers scramble to rebrand, restructure, or outright retreat, Kia just posted its best-ever April sales, delivering a staggering 74,805 units—a 14% jump over April 2024. That’s not just growth. That’s dominance. And it’s the seventh consecutive month of record-breaking sales.
For a brand once dismissed as “budget Korean,” Kia now walks with the confident stride of a heavyweight contender. But the real story? It’s not just volume. It’s how Kia is selling—and what that says about the future of driving.
Q: What sets this sales streak apart?
Well, for starters: Retail sales were up 24%, meaning this wasn’t a case of fleet deals padding the stats. Real people walked into real dealerships and bought more Kias than ever before.
The brand’s top performers? Telluride (+21%), Sportage (+18%), and Carnival (+79%), each setting new April records. Notably, Carnival’s surge comes on the heels of its new hybrid variant, showing Kia’s not just moving metal—it’s moving the right metal.
And the newly launched K4 sedan? It saw a modest but noteworthy 5% bump, no small feat for a compact car in an SUV-obsessed market.
Q: Are EVs driving the momentum?
In a word: yes. Electrified model sales rose 21% year-over-year. Kia’s EV6 sales more than tripled, jumping from 656 to 2,051 units, and the EV9—Kia’s electric three-row flagship—more than doubled, from 1,572 to 3,979.
All told, Kia sold over 5,000 EVs in April alone—numbers that put it squarely in the same conversation as legacy electric darlings like Tesla and Ford.
Oh, and in case you missed it: production of both the EV6 and EV9 has officially begun in Georgia. Not only does this qualify them for federal tax incentives, but it gives Kia a “Made in America” badge it can now wear proudly.
Q: What about charging infrastructure? Isn’t that the Achilles’ heel of EV adoption?
Not anymore. Kia has pulled a fast one on the competition by adopting both CCS and NACS charging standards, meaning Kia drivers now have access to over 40,000 charging points nationwide.
In plain English: if you can charge a Tesla there, you can now charge a Kia there too. And with the EV4 sedan on the horizon and Kia’s EV3 just crowned 2025 World Car of the Year—following the EV9’s win last year—you start to see a pattern. Kia isn’t following the EV revolution. It’s quietly leading it.
Q: Is this just another marketing cycle, or is Kia really disrupting the industry?
Let’s get contrarian for a moment. Kia—yes, Kia—was just named “Sustainability Disruptor of the Year” by Newsweek, thanks to its partnership with The Ocean Cleanup to remove plastics from the world’s oceans.
Combine that with EVs that are stylish, affordable, and now domestically built, and you don’t have hype—you have strategy. Kia is doing what other brands merely announce at tech expos.
And at the 2025 New York International Auto Show, they didn’t trot out one halo concept; they launched three real vehicles:
- 2026 K4 Hatchback – All the features of the sedan, plus added cargo and versatility.
- 2026 EV9 Nightfall Edition – Blacked-out, bold, and unapologetically premium.
- 2026 EV4 Sedan – Kia’s first global EV sedan, aiming to mainstream electric cars for every kind of driver.
Q: So what’s the takeaway for drivers?
If you haven’t test-driven a Kia lately, it’s time to admit you might be behind the curve. This isn’t your neighbor’s old Forte. The EV3, EV9, and even the Carnival Hybrid are reshaping what people expect from an affordable, well-built car.
And while other automakers continue to fumble their EV launches and shuffle execs, Kia’s simply selling cars—the right cars—month after record-setting month.
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