Kia is plowing ahead with plans to produce its first three-row electric SUV in the US, which is slated to begin this spring. However, it’s unclear whether Kia’s new US-made EV9 will fully qualify for the $7,500 EV tax credit at first.
After opening orders for its first three-row electric SUV in October, Kia’s EV9 has garnered significant interest.
Kia calls the EV9’s sub-$55K starting price a “wake-up call to the industry.” The automaker is already importing models to the US as sales have grown from 1,118 in December to 1,408 last month. Kia expects to sell about 2,000 EV9 models a month eventually.
As Kia’s first large electric SUV (with a range-topping AWD GT-Line trim starting at $73,900), the EV9 is expected to play a big role in the brand’s shift to electric.
According to online auto research firm CarsDirect, the EV9 is already being marked up at dealers despite Kia’s plea to keep prices low.
The 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line is being marked up by up to $7,000. Some dealers have the range-topping EV9 listed at $83,315 before taxes and fees.
2024 Kia EV9 GT Line (Source: Kia)
With 42.8″ rear legroom, the EV9 tops the Cadillac Escalade, 3-row Range Rover P400, and Mercedes EQS. It also has more shoulder and legroom than Tesla’s Model X. It’s no wonder the electric SUV is in high demand.
Does the Kia EV9 qualify for the full $7,500 EV tax credit?
Although the EV9 is already sold in the states, Kia is moving EV9 production to the US to gain access to the federal tax credit.
Kia’s Georgia facility is undergoing preparations to start building the electric SUV this spring, with the first US-made models rolling out this summer. However, it’s not certain that the Kia EV9 will initially qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit.
Kia EV9 interior (Source: Kia)
After new requirements were put into place this year, only 13 all-electric cars qualify. That’s down from 25 last year.
The new requirements limit 2% of the vehicle’s battery parts to be from a “foreign entity of concern,” like China.
CEO of Kia Georgia, Stuart Countess, told Automotive News, “We’re finishing some fine-tuning in the trial phase.” He added the facility will undergo a transition phase before it can begin using locally sourced batteries for the EV9.
2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line (Source: Kia)
“We will receive a battery assembly to marry into the car that comes to us through Hyundai Mobis,” Countess explained.
The battery packs will come from Hyundai or another external supplier. Hyundai is pushing ahead with plans to build two battery factories in the US. But neither is expected to begin production until next year.
Pushing ahead
Hyundai is building an EV battery plant as part of its $7.6 billion Metaplant near Savannah, Georgia. The other is in collaboration with SK On in Bartow County.
Kia EV9 interior (Source: Kia)
The battery and EV plant will support the production of 300,000 Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis EVs. Hyundai has already drastically pulled ahead the start of production to gain access to the IRA tax credit. It could come online as soon as October.
Kia’s EV9 will be the first all-electric model built at its West Point facility. The plant is best known for building Kia’s high-volume crossovers like the Telluride, Sorento, and Sportage.
Once the EV9 comes online, Kia will adjust the output mix according to demand. The facility currently can build up to 350,000 vehicles a year. The Sportage tops the mix, with the Telluride closely behind.
Kia has sent team members to Korea to work with prototypes and learn how to install the battery packs. Countess said plant managers are eager to get the EV9 into the building.
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U.S. President Donald Trump walks as workers react at U.S. Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 30, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
U.S. Steel shares jumped on Monday after President Donald Trump approved its controversial merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel.
U.S. Steel shares were last up about 5% in premarket trading.
Trump issued an executive order on Friday that allowed U.S. Steel and Nippon to finalize their merger so long as they signed a national security agreement with the U.S. government. The companies said they signed the agreement with the government, completing the final hurdle for the deal.
U.S. Steel said the national security agreement includes a golden share for the U.S .government, without specifying what powers the government would wield with its share. Trump said on Thursday that the golden share gives the U.S. president “total control.”
Typically, golden shares allow the holder veto power over important decisions the company makes. Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick told CNBC in May that the golden share will give the U.S. government control of several board seats and ensure production levels aren’t cut.
Trump has avoided calling the transaction a merger, describing the deal instead as a “partnership.” U.S. Steel confirmed in a regulatory filing Monday that the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel North America.
“All regulatory approvals required for the completion of the Transaction have been received,” U.S. Steel said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. “The Transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and is expected to be completed promptly.”
Trails of Iranian ballistic missiles light up the night sky as seen from Gaza City during renewed missile strikes launched by Iran in retaliation against Israel on June 15, 2025.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Tehran will “pay the price” for its fresh missile onslaught against Israel, the Jewish state’s defense minister warned Monday, as markets braced for a fourth day of ramped-up conflict between the regional powers.
Fire exchanges have continued since Israel’s Friday attack against Iran, with Iranian media reporting Tehran’s latest strikes hit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, home to a major refinery. CNBC has reached out to operator Bazan for comment on the state of operations at the Haifa plant, amid reports of damage to Israel’s energy infrastructure.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said overnight it deployed “innovative methods” that “disrupted the enemy’s multi-layered defense systems, to the point that the Zionist air defense systems engaged in targeting each other,” according to a statement obtained by NBC News.
Israel has widely depended on its highly efficient Iron Dome missile defense system to fend off attacks throughout regional conflicts — but even it can be overwhelmed if a large number of projectiles are fired.
The fresh hostilities are front-of-mind for investors, who have been weighing the odds of further escalation in the conflict and spillover into the broader oil-rich Middle East, amid concerns over crude supplies and the key shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Oil prices retained the gains of recent days and at 09:19 a.m. London time, Ice Brent futures with August delivery were trading at $73.81 per barrel, down 0.57% from the previous trading session. The Nymex WTI contract with July expiry was at $72.7 per barrel, 0.38% lower.
Elsewhere, however, markets showed initial signs of shrugging off the latest hostilities early on Monday.
Spot prices for key safe-haven asset gold retreated early morning, down 0.42% to $3,417.83 per ounce after nearly notching a two-year-high earlier in the session, with U.S. gold futures also down 0.65% to $ 3,430.5
Tel Aviv share indices pointed higher, with the blue-chip TA-35 up 0.99% and the wider TA-125 up 1.33%.
Luis Costa, global head of EM sovereign credit at Citigroup Global Markets, signaled the muted reaction could be, in part, attributed to hopes of a brisk resolution to the conflict.
“So markets are obviously, you know, bearing in mind all potential scenarios. There are obviously potentially very bad scenarios in this story,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday. “But there is still a way out in terms of, you know, a faster resolution and bringing Iran to the table, or a short continuation here, of a very surgical and intense strike by the Israeli army.”
U.S. response in focus
As of Monday morning, Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom reported four dead and 87 injured following rocket strikes at four sites in “central Israel,” reporting collapsed buildings, fire and people trapped under debris.
Accusing Tehran of targeting civilians in Israel to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from “continuing the attack that is collapsing its capabilities,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, a close longtime ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a Google-translated social media update that “the residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”
The IDF on Sunday said it had in turn “completed a wide-scale wave of strikes on numerous weapon production sites belonging to the Quds Force, the IRGC and the Iranian military, in Tehran.”
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
The U.S.’ response is now in focus, given its close support and arms provision to Israel, the unexpected cancellation of Washington’s latest nuclear deal talks with Iran, and President Donald Trump’s historically hard-hitting stance against Tehran during his first term.
Trump, who has been pushing Iran for a deal over its nuclear program, has weighed in on the conflict, opposing an Israeli proposal to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to NBC News.
Discussions about the conflict are expected to take place during the ongoing meeting of the G7, encapsulating Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., along with the European Union.
— CNBC’s Katrina Bishop contributed to this report.
A Tesla Model 3 got stuck on a train track and was hit, albeit slightly, by a train in Sinking Spring, PA. The driver claimed it was in “self-driving mode.”
According to the fire alerts in Berks County, a Tesla Model 3 drove around a train track barrier near South Hull Street and Columbia Avenue and got stuck in the tracks.
The driver was able to exit the vehicle, but a train hit the car, reportedly snapping off the side mirror.
The fire commissioner ordered to stop all train traffic as the emergency services worked to get the Model 3 off the tracks using a crane.
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Spitlers Garage & Towing, performed the recovery and shared a few pictures on Facebook:
The Tesla driver reportedly claimed that the vehicle was in “self-driving mode” leading up to getting stuck on the train tracks.
Tesla claims that all its vehicles built since 2016 will be capable of unsupervised self-driving with software updates; however, this has yet to occur.
Instead, Tesla has been selling a “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) package for up to $15,000 that requires the driver to constantly supervise the vehicle, with the driver remaining responsible for the car at all times.
Electrek’s Take
There have been instances of Tesla drivers engaging in reckless behavior and then attributing it to the Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.
I’m not saying it’s the case here, but it’s a possibility.
On the other side, I’ve seen FSD try to navigate around construction barriers. It’s possible that it tried to do that in this case, here and then got caught on the tracks.
We would need more data.
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