- The Kia EV3, which is slated to start at around $35,000 when it hits the U.S. market, is already doing well in its home market.
- The EV3 sold a little over 4,000 units in South Korea in August, its first full month of sales.
- That amounts to 10% of Kia's total sales volume.
The Kia EV3, which is expected to arrive in the United States later this year, is already gaining steam in its home country of South Korea, sales-wise.
In the first full month of sales, August, the affordable battery-powered crossover sold 4,002 units, which was close to its more popular gas-powered siblings that have had months or years on the market. By comparison, the Sportage SUV was the company’s best-seller in Korea, with 5,988 sales, followed by the Seltos SUV with 5,551 units and the Carnival MPV with 5,534 sales.
In total, Kia sold 40,510 units in its home country last month, which means the EV3 already accounted for roughly 10% of all cars sold here. Not bad for its first month on the market.
It’s worth noting that the entry-level EV–which our Editor-in-Chief Patrick George is driving right now–proved it has big sales potential a couple of months ago when it amassed over 10,000 reservations in just 23 days in Korea. That’s one-fourth of the company’s total sales volume in August.
It will be interesting to see if all those reservations transform into sales, as sometimes people change their minds after a while for all sorts of reasons. The EV3’s initial sales success in South Korea can also be an indicator of its potential in the United States, where its selling price is expected to be somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000.
Gallery: Kia EV3 and EV3 GT-line (2024)
We still don’t know for sure if the U.S.-spec model will be built in Mexico or Korea, but at least one report claims it will be the former, which means the EV3 might become eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit when purchasing (the tax credit might be available when leasing no matter where the car is built.)
That would make it a sub-$30,000 EV with up to 300 miles of range, front-wheel drive (an all-wheel drive model is coming later), vehicle-to-load (V2L), a peak charging speed of 128 kilowatts and a 10% to 80% state of charge top-up in under 18 minutes, according to Kia.
