Koreans are selling in America: Hyundai over 900,000, Kia over 850,000 sold

According to their numbers, electrified vehicles made up 30 percent of the retail mix, with hybrids up 36 percent and EVs up 7 percent year-on-year. In particular, Hyundai set annual records for several models, including the Elantra, Tucson, Santa Fe, Palisade, Ioniq 5 and Venue.

On the other hand, Kia America announced that it sold 852,155 vehicles in the US in 2025, for the first time they exceeded 800 thousand and that is 7 percent more than in 2024. They also cite a record market share and retail growth of 5 percent, with eight years of retail growth in a row.

Kia says that electric models grew by 24 percent, SUVs by 5 percent, while sedans grew by 13 percent. Four models had their best year ever: Carnival (+44%), Sportage (+13%), Telluride (+7%) and K4 (+1%), and the Sportage had the best annual sales for a Kia model ever.

For comparison, growth in Europe was milder: according to ACEA, new car registrations in the EU until November 2025 were at +1.4% compared to the previous year, and the share of battery electric cars is 16.9%, while hybrids are still the most popular choice. In Croatia, 2025 ended with 69,140 newly registered passenger cars (+8.4%), and the top 10 brands included Hyundai with 3,075 registrations (4.4%) and Kia with 2,697 (3.9%). In the UK, Hyundai reports more than 93,100 vehicles sold in 2025, while Kia reports 113,436 registrations and finished as the čfourth best-selling brand.

In the review of the “winners” of 2025, Car and Driver also separated specific figures by model. At Hyundai, the Tucson was the best seller with 234,230 units, and Santa Fe (142,404) and Palisade (123,929) were also strong. At Kia, the Sportage (182,823) led the way, along with the Telluride (123,281), Carnival (71,917) and the big leap of the K5 (72,751).

The broader picture of the market is working in their favor: Reuters states that sales of new vehicles in the US in 2025 increased by about 2 percent (to about 16.2 million), and some manufacturers, including Hyundai, profited from the “wave” of hybrids, while interest in electric vehicles was more volatile.