Kia EV6’s first day pre-sale demand surpasses 1-year sales target

Kia’s first all-electric model showcased last month reached over 1.5 times of its 2021 sales target in a single day of pre-sale.

Kia announced on Thursday that it received 21,016 units of preorders on Wednesday through its website and dealerships. It is over 162 percent of the EV6 domestic sales target of 13,000 units and is the company’s highest preorder record on the first day among all SUVs. The previous SUV record was held by Sorento in November 2019 with 18,941 units. The fourth-generation Carnival has the highest record among all modes of Kia, receiving 23,006 units of preorders on the first day in July 2020.

With the popularity of EV6, Hyundai Motor Group successfully opened an electric vehicle market in South Korea along with Ioniq 5, which set a new group-wide record for preorders on the first day with 23,760 units. Given that Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling electric car last year in the country with about 11,000 units, the potential demand for quality electric cars from Hyundai Motor Company or Kia has been confirmed.

However, there are some concerns that not all pre-order customers will receive Ioniq 5 or EV6 within this year. The dedicated electric car production process of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia has not been stabilized, as it is in the beginning stage and the current worldwide automobile semiconductor shortage will continue until the second quarter.


Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com