Kia is off to its best sales start since 1962, but with new EVs on the way, the run has just begun
Kia just notched its best first-quarter sales performance since it began selling cars in 1962. With its first electric sedan, the EV4, launching this year, Kia says its sales run is just getting started.
Kia had its best sales start in company history in 2025
After a major brand revamp in 2021, which included a new logo, slogan, and design, Kia is already reaping the benefits.
The South Korean automaker sold a record 772,351 vehicles in the first three months of 2025, topping its previous record of just over 765,100 set in the first quarter of 2024.
Kia sold 637,051 vehicles in overseas markets, 134,412 in Korea, and another 888 “special vehicles” in Q1 2025. The milestone comes after back-to-back record global sales years in 2023 and 2024.
Kia’s new look isn’t the only thing drawing buyers to the brand. It also has some of the most efficient, affordable electric cars on the market.
As part of its plans to offer “EVs for all,” Kia is launching a new lineup of mass-market electric vehicles. The EV5, a smaller electric SUV, was the first to launch in China in late 2023, starting at around $20,000 (149,800 yuan).
Kia followed it up with the EV3, another compact electric SUV, last year. Kia’s vice president Won-Jeong Jeong called it a “game-changer” after securing over 10,000 orders in Korea within a month.
Even more growth on the way?
The EV3 debuted in Europe last November, starting at around 36,000 euros ($39,000). According to Kia, the compact electric SUV is already helping draw in new buyers.
A company official said that the EV3, alongside the new Sportage and Sorento, “led to strong sales last year, recording the best first-quarter sales ever.”
With new models, including its first electric sedan, Kia says this could be just the start. The company official added, “We will continue the sales momentum with competitive new models such as the EV4 and Tasman,” Kia’s midsize pickup.
Kia opened EV4 pre-orders in Korea last month for under $30,000 (41.92 million won). Jeong said the electric sedan will “present a new direction in the domestic electric vehicle market, which has been formed around SUVs.”
Later this year, Kia will launch the EV4 globally, including in the US and Europe. A hatchback version (that actually looks pretty sleek) is also set to roll out, aimed at the European market.
Kia also confirmed this week that the EV6 and EV9 are in full-scale production at its West Point, Georgia, Plant.
The company said the move will help “further accelerate the growth of Kia’s electric vehicle sales” in the US, one of its most important markets.
And this is just the start. Kia is launching a new lineup of electric vans as it expands into new segments. Its first, the PV5, is a midsize electric van expected to rival the Volkswagen ID.Buzz.
Source: Hyundai
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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