Kia EV Sales In September Modest Despite EV Tax Credit Going Away, Down In 2025! – CleanTechnica

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With the US EV tax credit expiring last night, we expected a huge rush in EV sales in the 3rd quarter, and in September specifically. I just wrote about big EV sales growth at Chevrolet and Cadillac. I was expecting to see similar results and perhaps write similar stories about other auto brands. However, I’m a bit disappointed in some.

Nissan EV Sales Down

Nissan is a bit of a disaster. I guess because of the coming, massively updated Nissan LEAF, the older LEAF was getting phased out? And the ARIYA, too?

In the 3rd quarter, only 724 LEAFs were sold in the USA, down 84% from the 4,514 sold in the 3rd quarter of 2024. Only 3,210 units of the ARIYA were sold, down from 5,552 in Q3 2024, a 42% drop. Yikes…. Yes, the new LEAF looks like an amazing deal, and I understand prepping for its arrival, but Nissan should have had the sense to take advantage of the US EV tax credit before it was gone.

Also note that LEAF sales were down 38.7% in the first 9 months of the year, from 7,581 to 4,649; and ARIYA sales were down 0.5% in the first 9 months of the year, from 14,897 to 14,829.

Kia EV Sales Up In September, But Down In 2024

Getting to Kia, which I think produces some of the best EVs on the market, the EV6 grew 31.3% from 1,612 to 2,116, and the EV9 47.6% from 2,096 to 3,094 in September. It’s fine, but it’s not blockbuster growth, and the volumes are genuinely quite lame.

But it gets worse, as EV6 and EV9 sales declined significantly in the first 9 months of the year! EV6 sales declined from 15,985 in January–September 2024 to 11,077 in January–September 2025. Meanwhile, EV9 sales declined from 15,970 in January–September 2024 to 12,448 in January–September 2025. Not good.

I don’t get it. Why are Kia’s EVs doing so poorly in 2025? As I said, I think these are some of the best EVs on the market.