Kia reports 222,232 car sales globally (down 13.3% year-over-year) in November. The decrease is still associated mainly with the “global semiconductor supply shortage” that “led to the supply side disruption.”
However, we are the most interested in the BEV sales, which appear to be more than doubling year-over-year thanks to the all-new Kia EV6.
In November, the company sold close to 4,900 EV6 (slightly less than in October), including some 2,202 in South Korea and some 2,692 retail sales in other markets (almost entirely in Europe). This is a solid number, however, the ramp-up is not easy.
The wholesale sales number (closely related to production) is only a little bit over 4,800 units, compared to almost 7,000 in October (that indicates production constraints).
Kia reports wholesale sales (on the manufacturer level or plant sales).
Cumulatively, the company has produced almost 24,000 EV6 and we guess that the year 2021 will end with about 30,000 units (in five months of production).
The EV6 is not the only electric car in Kia’s offer, but we don’t have all the numbers yet. The Soul EV and Niro EV noted respectively 586 and 5,223 retail sales outside of South Korea in November (we don’t have numbers for Kia’s home market).
That would add up to a total of 10,703 (up 150% year-over-year) and 4.8% of the total volume – potentially more.
Kia does not report PHEV numbers, but it might be an additional few percent.
So far this year, the company has sold no less than 77,000 all-electric cars (all EV6 plus Soul EV/Niro EV outside South Korea).
It’s expected that the South Korean manufacturer will accelerate the production as the EV6 supply is not enough for the global market, and sales in North America have not even started yet.