Kia and Hyundai Continue to Shatter Sales Records in Q2 2025
The roller coaster retail economy of 2025 continues to unfold. Kia and Hyundai are two automakers that have been riding the wave since the very beginning, with record Q1 sales this year. And it looks like the party goes on, at least for now. Their red-hot performance continues, with the pair breaking several records and in some cases seeing double-digit percentage volume increases for some of their most popular models. Here's how it all shook out.
2025 Hyundai Sonata N Line
2025 Hyundai Kona Electric
2026 Kia Sportage
Kia moved 416,511 vehicles total in the first half of 2025, which marks an eight percent increase year-over-year. Although the brand's battery electric vehicles struggled — the EV9 and EV6 saw considerable drop-offs year-over-year — hybrid models came in clutch. Kia says that hybrid models like the Niro Hybrid and Sorento Hybrid are up 70 percent compared to the same period last year. Another unexpected market shift came in the form of sedans. Sedan models increased 29 percent compared to the first half of 2024, and the new K5 specifically saw 170% growth year-over-year. Similarly, the Carnival, Telluride, Sportage, and K4 models all managed their best-ever first half of the year. Overall, this year marks a record first-half in volume for the brand, with a 12 percent gain over 2024.
Hyundai celebrated a great halfway point, too. Just like Kia, the brand celebrates a record-shattering first half of the year, moving 439,280 vehicles. That's a 10 percent increase over the same time period in 2024, driven in part by a 20 percent year-over-year surge in what Hyundai refers to as 'electrified' sales. Interestingly, arguably the brand's flagship EVs, the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6, saw a significant downturn from this time last year, dropping 12 and 8 percent, respectively. Buoying sales are the Venue, up 26 percent, and Tucson, up 25 percent. Hyundai also reported a best-ever June for hybrid and electrified vehicles, and the Elantra N and Santa Fe hybrid set new total sales records.
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N
2025 Hyundai Tucson
2025 Hyundai Venue
Value plays a big part in both brands' success
There's been a lot of good press around the two automakers lately. Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis — all technically part of Hyundai Motor Group — tore it up in the 2025 IIHS Safety Rankings and in the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study. But another reason sales may be on the rise for the two economy-minded brands is a lack of competition. The Hyundai Venue and Kia Soul are two of the least expensive vehicles on sale today, with the former starting at an unheard-of-in-2025 $20,200. The Kia K4 starts around $23,000, delivering above-average aesthetics and all the technology most customers clamor for. The same goes for the Hyundai Elantra.
Looking at the sales figures, you'll see a pattern. The Hyundai Tucson leads among both automakers, moving 16,378 examples, and is cheaper than every one of its competitors. After that comes the Kia Sportage (12,630), followed closely by the Hyundai Elantra (12,412) and Kia K4/Forte (11,564), the latter two of which are similarly discount-priced. Arguably, the success Kia and Hyundai are enjoying is a direct result of their willingness to play in the sandbox that many automakers seem to be neglecting: budget-conscious consumers shopping at the sub-$30,000 mark.
Final thoughts
There's no other way to say it: Hyundai and Kia are positively killing it this year. It's not entirely surprising; the Korean automakers have come a long way, and their recent vehicles have the critical acclaim to prove it. Now, they have the sales figures, too. It will be interesting to see how long the duo can keep up the record-breaking run, especially as the economy continues to be anything but certain.
About the Author
Steven Paul View Profile
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
21 minutes ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: Trump administration formally axes Elon Musk's 'five things' email
WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday formally axed a program launched by billionaire former Trump adviser Elon Musk requiring federal employees to summarize their five workplace achievements from the prior week, as first reported by Reuters. The Office of Personnel Management, the federal human resources agency that implemented Musk's push to slash the federal workforce, announced the end of the "five things" email via a memo that rescinds guidance instructing workers to comply with the initiative. "At OPM, we believe that managers are accountable to staying informed about what their team members are working on and have many other existing tools to do so," OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement, adding the agency told government HR representatives that OPM would no longer manage the process nor use it internally. While many federal agencies had already phased out compliance with the weekly email, the move signals the Trump administration is turning the page on one of Musk's most unpopular initiatives following a falling out between the two men in early June. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Musk, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win November's presidential election, led the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to slash the budget and cut the federal workforce until his departure in May to refocus on his tech empire. Musk initially received a warm White House sendoff from Trump, but then incurred the president's wrath by describing Trump's tax cut and spending bill as an abomination. Trump pulled the nomination of Musk ally and tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA and later threatened to cancel billions of dollars worth of federal contracts with Musk's companies after the blowup between the two men. The "five things" email, launched by Musk in February to boost accountability, sparked tensions with department chiefs who were blindsided by the weekend email mandating the move. It also fueled confusion among government workers who received mixed messages about whether and how to comply. Reuters reported in March that the White House installed two Trump loyalists at OPM to ensure better policy coordination between the White House and the agency. Scott Kupor, a venture capitalist who took the helm at OPM in July, foreshadowed the end of the initiative last month, describing processing of the weekly response emails as "very manual" and "not efficient." It is "something that we should look at and see, like, are we getting the value out of it that at least the people who put it in place thought they were," he said.
Reuters
21 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ypsomed to move production to Germany, increase output in US, Bloomberg News reports
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Swiss medical technology company Ypsomed (YPSN.S), opens new tab is planning to move some production to Germany and increase its output in the U.S. due to the threat of 39% tariffs on imports from Switzerland, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing its CEO Simon Michel.
Finextra
22 minutes ago
- Finextra
Crypto.com partners Plaid for instant asset transfers
today announced a new integration with Plaid to allow users to easily transfer their investments from other platforms to without needing to sell and therefore incur taxes. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. The offering is enabled by Investments Move, Plaid's new product that securely and digitally automates brokerage account transfers and reduces operational complexity, which can shorten the time it takes a user to successfully submit a transfer to less than a minute. Participating users can earn up to a 3% stock transfer bonus. Investments Move, launched by Plaid in October 2024, streamlines the data collection process for the Automated Account Clearing and Transfer Service (ACATS), which is how U.S. investments are moved without being converted to cash. Using Plaid to connect accounts and retrieve information for an ACATS transfer eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces errors that commonly cause transfers to fail. Users no longer need to download brokerage statements and type information into a form. Investments Move effectively and efficiently captures the data needed to move investments from one account to another—without selling securities and incurring taxes. It can be used when opening a new brokerage account or transferring IRAs. 'We are thrilled to partner with Plaid to make it easier for our customers to transfer their brokerage accounts and assets from other platforms to ours,' said Travis McGhee, Managing Director, Global Head of Capital Markets at 'Enhancing the customer experience with innovative products and partnerships are critical to our overall growth, and utilizing Investments Move is just another step in creating a best in-class platform.' 'Investments Move is another example of how open finance is making it easier for people to manage their money,' said Brian Dammeir, Head of Payments and Financial Management at Plaid. 'Manual ACATs processes are prone to errors that cause frustrating rejections for consumers. By powering transfer flow, we're helping millions of investors move assets seamlessly and freeing up their teams to focus on growth, not ticket-driven support.' Investments Move is available to users in the U.S.
