The EV5 is about the size of the Tesla Model Y and is already a hot seller in some markets. A new EV5 variant was caught towing a trailer in the US for the first time, but will Kia bring it to the states?

Is the new Kia EV5 launching in the US?

After launching the EV5 in 2023, Kia’s new electric SUV turned out to be a huge success in China. The EV5 helped Kia’s joint venture in China, Yueda Kia, turn its first profit in seven years in 2024.

It’s not only proven itself in the world’s biggest and most competitive electric vehicle market, with top dogs like BYD and Geely; it’s also top-selling EV in other markets too.

In Australia, the Kia EV5 is the fourth-best-selling EV this year, behind only the Tesla Model Y, BYD Sealion 7, and the Model 3.

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Now, Kia is preparing to launch it in Europe later this year and in North America in early 2026. Although the company specifically said the EV5 would be “exclusive to the Canadian market in North America” earlier this year, we’ve seen it testing in the US a few times now, sparking rumors (or perhaps, hope) that Kia may have changed its mind.

The latest sighting from KindelAuto reveals a new variant, the new Kia EV5 GT. The EV5 is set to receive the GT treatment like Kia’s other electric models, including the EV6 GT and EV9 GT.

Although it’s covered, you can still see a few design elements pulled from other GT models, like the neon green brake calipers and sporty wheels that suggest this is the flagship variant.

The fact that it was also spotted towing a trailer hints that Kia is testing out its towing capacity, power, and performance.

Kia will launch the EV5 GT in early 2026, following the standard version later this year. In Europe, the electric SUV is powered by an 81.4 kWh battery, providing 329 miles WLTP range. Kia will offer 60.3 kWh and 81.4 kWh battery options in Canada with a range of up to 310 miles (500 km).

The EV5 is about slightly smaller than the Tesla Model Y, measuring 4,610 mm in length, 1,875 mm in width, and 1,675 mm in height.

Although specs for the GT variant have yet to be revealed, you can expect it to arrive with a dual-motor AWD powertrain setup. Like the EV6 GT, it’s expected to pack over 600 horsepower and 77 Nm of torque, which should be good for a 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) acceleration time in about 3.5 seconds.

It will also pull fun features from the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N, like drift optimization, a Virtual Gear Shift (VGS), and launch control.

Kia will reveal official prices, range, specs, and more closer to launch. Those in the US will have to wait to learn more. Until then, don’t get too excited, the last official statement from Kia said the EV5 would be exclusive to Canada in the North American market.

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Global EV charging is about to see a massive buildout. According to Wood Mackenzie’s recent Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Forecast, the number of global EV charging ports is expected to climb at a 12.3% compound annual growth rate between 2026 and 2040, hitting 206.6 million by the end of that period.

Home charging leads the way

Residential charging will continue to be the backbone of the market, with 133 million ports installed globally by 2040. To support that growth, annual spending on EV charging infrastructure will rise steadily at 8% a year, reaching $300 billion by 2040.

“Residential Level 2 charging dominates the global market and will make up about 2 out of every 3 charging ports worldwide through 2050,” said Emil Koenig, senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie. “Its appeal comes from the balance of convenience, performance, and value that resonates most strongly with EV owners.”

Public charging will also expand, but at a more measured pace compared to home setups. “As utilization in public charging increases and infrastructure efficiency improves, we expect the ratio of EVs to public chargers to rise from 7.5 battery electric vehicles per charger in 2025 to 14.2 in 2040,” said Oliver McHugh, Wood Mackenzie’s senior EV charging research analyst.

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Asia-Pacific dominates, with India rising fast

China continues to lead the global pack in public charging infrastructure, and Asia-Pacific overall is forecast to see around 10% annual growth in DC fast charging from 2025 through 2040. By then, public Level 3 and residential Level 2 charging will represent the largest annual capital spending in the region, at $54 billion and $33 billion, respectively.

India is emerging as a fast-growing market. The country’s DC fast charger network is projected to skyrocket from just 14,000 today to 1.1 million by 2040, thanks to strong government policies and rapid EV adoption.

The Americas keep pace

Despite challenges, the US public fast-charging market is expected to grow at a healthy 14% annual clip, reaching 475,000 ports by 2040 and generating $3.3 billion in annual market value. South America will also ramp up quickly – residential charging in the region is projected to grow at 22% annually as EV adoption accelerates. Residential Level 2 charging will dominate, with $11.2 billion in spending by 2040.

Europe and the Middle East surge

Europe’s public charging infrastructure is on track for 11.3% annual growth through 2040, with DC fast chargers expanding even faster at 13.7%. Residential charging will hit 57 million AC chargers, while commercial charging grows at 12% annually.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a standout player in the Middle East. The kingdom’s public DC charging segment is forecast to soar at 29% annual growth, supported by aggressive government targets. By 2040, the entire EMEA region will be spending $14 billion each year on public charging and $30 billion on residential charging.

Read more: The US added 4,200 new DC fast charging ports, and that’s just Q2

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Tesla insiders have been unloading their shares at an impressive rate. Excluding CEO Elon Musk, Tesla executives and board members have sold more than 50% of their TSLA shares over the last year.

And that might only be part of the story.

Public companies are required to report insider trading by key executives and board members.

In recent years, Tesla’s number of key executives has dwindled to now only three:

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• Elon Musk
• Tom Zhu
• Vaibhav Taneja

Here’s Tesla’s corporate governance page on its investor relations website:

That’s partly due to several of them leaving in the last year, including Drew Baglino, who was the de facto head of engineering and was listed as a key executive before leaving last year.

It’s also because Musk is known to micro-manage, resulting in him having many direct reports who would generally go through other department heads.

The result is that only two Tesla executives, in addition to Musk, who would have to report his transactions even if he weren’t CEO, since he owns more than 10% of the company, are required to report their stock transactions.

Based on Tesla’s 2024 proxy statement, here were the insider ownership last year:

Now here’s the ownership of Tesla shares and options from insiders based on the 2025 proxy statement:

As you can see, excluding Musk, Tesla insiders sold more than half their shares in the company over the last year.

To be fair, some of those changes also include cancellations of stock options for board members, who settled a shareholders’ lawsuit for having overcompensated themselves.

However, it doesn’t account for the reduction in ownership of more than 6 million shares and stock options, worth approximately $2 billion at today’s share price.

There are also some specific examples of non-board members liquidating their stakes.

Tom Zhu, who has led Tesla’s manufacturing efforts and was at times seen as Musk’s number 2 at Tesla, reduced his stake by 82% in a single year.

This happened while Musk claimed that Tesla will become the most valuable company in the world and roughly 10x its current stock price due to autonomous driving and robots, a claim most unbiased analysts have been highly skeptical about.

Electrek’s Take

More than 50% reduction in ownership in a single year is wild.

But as I hinted at the beginning of the article, this is only what we can see. Other Tesla execs, managers, and employees also have shares and stock options, and they could potentially be selling at an even higher rate. We simply don’t know.

The single reporting person to have bought shares is Joe Gebbia, who only bought about $1 million worth, and he is a multi-billionaire. It would be the equivalent of me buying a few hundred dollars’ worth of Electrek shares – not a great show of confidence in my company.

I’m not in the business of predicting Tesla’s share price. I think it trades mainly on gullible Tesla retail shareholders believing Musk’s lies.

But I believe that Tesla will likely face several challenging quarters in the next few years and may even start incurring losses. I think many executives also see this coming and don’t believe that autonomy and humanoid robots will have a positive financial contribution for a few years, as Musk claims.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s EV business is struggling, and there’s little hope of reversing the trend without fresh new models and innovation – the pace of which appears to have greatly slowed at Tesla, unfortunately.