Kia Ends K9 Sedan After 14 Years, Pivots to EVs
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- Kia is ending K9 sedan production by the end of 2025 with no refresh, full model change, or direct successor planned, per industry sources cited by The Korea Economic Daily on July 6; the K900 was already pulled from the US lineup in 2021.
- K9 sales fell from 6,585 units in 2022 to 3,898 in 2023, then to just 1,581 in 2025, with only 734 models sold through the first half of this year — on pace for an all-time low in 2026.
- The K9 was losing customers to the Genesis G80, G90, and the new Hyundai Grandeur, and the absence of a more efficient hybrid option helped push Kia out of the large luxury sedan segment entirely.
- Kia plans to sell 14 EVs by 2030 and is shifting production lines and workforce toward models including the EV2 (already on sale), EV4, and EV5.
- Kia's Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) electric van business is expanding: the PV5 is already selling, the larger PV7 launches next year, and the PV9 is slated for 2029.
- Kia's first software-defined vehicle, a compact electric hatch codenamed "XV1" and likely branded EV1, will debut in Korea and Europe in 2027 with Level 2+ highway autonomy, expanding to Level 2++ city driving by early 2029.
- Kia has hinted at a possible electric flagship sedan (potentially the EV8) via the Meta Turismo concept, but nothing is officially confirmed, with the near-term focus on higher-volume EVs.
Why it matters: Kia is surrendering the full-size luxury sedan segment to Hyundai's Genesis and Grandeur while concentrating capital on affordable, smaller EVs and PBV vans — a bet that 14 EVs by 2030 will out-earn a struggling flagship that fell from 6,585 units to under 1,600 in three years.
