Kia EV6 Wholesale Shipments Remain Stable In January 2023

The company produced roughly 7,000 EV6, while preparing for the EV9 launch.

2023 Kia EV6 GT Exterior Front Quarter

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Feb 23, 2023 at 10:16am ET

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Kia reports that its global vehicle sales in January increased by 9 percent year-over-year to 232,437 units. That's a pretty strong start to the year and a continuation of the rebound trend, which started in mid-2022.

The South Korean manufacturer is also expanding sales of its E-GMP-based all-electric cars. Last month, the all-electric Kia EV6 noted 6,919 wholesale sales (closely related to production), which is 8.5 percent more than a year ago.

Kia reports wholesale sales (on the manufacturer level or plant sales), unaudited and on a preliminary basis.

An interesting thing is that the data indicate zero sales in South Korea (all 6,919 units are export sales). We can't say why it's like that, but January 2022 was slow as well.

Kia EV6 electric car sales (wholesale sales) – January 2023

Retail sales

In its monthly sales data report, Kia lists also 3,913 retail sales of the Kia EV6 outside of South Korea, including 1,110 in the US.

The other electric car models - Kia Niro EV and Kia Soul EV - noted another year-over-year decrease in retail sales outside of South Korea: respectively 4,127 (down 24 percent) and 222 (down 58 percent). We don't have numbers for Kia's home market.

Kia BEV sales last month:

EV6: 3,913 retail sales outside South Korea
(6,919 wholesale - 0 in South Korea and 6,919 exported)
Niro EV: 4,127 retail sales outside South Korea
Soul EV: 222 retail sales outside South Korea
Total*: at least 8,262 (down 12% year-over-year) or 3.6% of the total volume
*South Korea (EV6) + overseas retail sales data (EV6, Niro EV, Soul EV)

Unfortunately, Kia does not report PHEV numbers.

For reference, in 2022, the company sold more than 130,000 all-electric cars.

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Kia EV9 Concept

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The plan for 2023 is to increase overall Kia car sales to 3.2 million units (by more than 10 percent year-over-year) and introduce the Kia EV9 model.

"Kia will also build on EV sales momentum through the introduction of the EV9, Kia’s all-electric large SUV due for its global debut later this year.

With the EV9, Kia will provide an unparalleled EV experience that aims to revolutionize the EV market with its strikingly contemporary exterior and interior design, over-the-air (OTA) update services and level three autonomous driving capabilities."