Kia has largely made a smooth transition into the electric vehicle future. Its offerings have been well-reviewed for their quality, performance, and style. And yet, curiously, we now see the Kia EV6 starting to pile up in dealer lots. You know what overstock means—savings!
Despite its charms, the Kia EV6 has never been a mega seller. It’s been sitting around 1000 to 2000 sales a month since launch in the US. However, this year, there’s been a dropoff. Sales up to June are down 47% year on year, with just 5,975 sold so far in 2025. This has led to a glut of stock at dealerships. As per CarEdge figures, there is a full 217 market days of supply currently sitting at Kia outlets across the nation.
Dealers don’t want those EVs sitting around taking up space and not making money. The result is a stack of incentives that are slashing sticker prices by five-figure sums. Want to pay just $30,000 for a Kia EV6? That just might be possible.
Let’s start by looking at the very cheapest models on offer. Those would be the Light RWD trim, with an MSRP of $42,900. With the $7,500 Federal tax credit, which is due to expire soon, you might hope to get one of these for $35,400. However, Greenway Kia East in Orlando, Florida, will go even better. They’re currently offering an EV6 Light for $29,973. That’s a full $15,262 off this specific car’s sticker price of $45,235. $7,500 of that discount is from the government, but the rest is from the dealer and Kia itself.The Light RWD will get you 237 miles of range, and has 167 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. The only problem is that there aren’t a lot of base Light RWD models out there. However, you can get something nicer for only a little extra money if you know where to look.
Maybe you want to jump up to the Light Long Range. It offers a nice 319 miles of range with 225 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, so it’s quite an upgrade from the basic Light RWD. Jeff Belzer’s Lakeville in Minnesota will sell you one for $30,847, a full $17,528 under MSRP. It started out much closer to sticker price, but Kia and the dealer have slowly been stacking discounts over the last 69 days since it’s been listed. Regal Kia Lakeland and Kia of Claremont have similar deals down in Florida, as does King Kia in Maryland.
The EV6 Wind RWD has the same performance specs to the Light Long Range, but tacks on lots of tech which ups the sticker price above $50,000. Camelback Kia in Arizona has a rear-wheel-drive example for $37,189, which is $14,791 cheaper than sticker. However, the real cherry is over at McFarland Kia in New Hampshire. They’ve got an all-wheel-drive model for $36,980, a discount of $19,000. For that money, you’re getting dual motors, 320 horsepower, and it still hits 295 miles of range on the EPA test cycle.
Other models are going cheap, too. There’s a bunch of rear-wheel-drive EV6 GT-Line models for just under $20,000 off at Kia of Clermont in Florida, while Oakes Kia in Missouri has some deals too. The top-of-the-line GT is harder to come by, but Liberty Auto Plaza has a 2024 model in Illinois for $54,310, somewhere around $10,000 below the current MSRP.
It’s not just dealers slashing prices here, with Kia head office also contributing to cash on the hood to try and get these cars moving. Then there’s the federal tax credit, which will disappear on September 30 this year. Time’s a-wasting if you want one really cheap; the EV6 is sure to become a lot less compelling when it’s $7,500 more expensive across the board.
The Kia EV6 may not be the roomiest EV out there, or the most powerful, but it is a nice way to get around. Big discounts will make it more competitive in the short term, but it’s unlikely to be a good long-term solution for a car that isn’t quite connecting with the auto-buying population right now. The loss of tax credits will only hurt it further, so expect a difficult sales situation to continue for the EV6 from here on out.
Image credits: Kia, Cars.com via screenshot
The eGMP triplets (not counting Genesis) exist on kind of a weird spectrum.
The Ioniq 5 is the best-looking of the bunch, but kinda bulky and takes just enough of a highway range hit to actually matter on road trips.
Ioniq 6 has the most highway range thanks to the aerodynamic shape, but… damn that thing’s ugly. Less space, too, since it’s not a hatch.
The EV6 is kind of a compromise, but a decent one: It’s not great-looking, but it’s not terrible. Just kind of generic. It’s got just enough range to keep longer trips from being painful (where the Ioniq 5 falls a bit short). It’s a bit lower and more compact than the Ioniq 5, but a lot roomier than the 6.
Jesus, look at that thing. It’s like the evolution of the Pontiac Aztek.
Is this an insult or praise?
Leased an Ionic5 and it’s been awesome. SW update for the ICCU and not a single problem. With they way EV tech changes though buying one seems short sited at the moment. My buddy has a 7 year old Tesla and it cannot charge above 100KW I think he said.
And as for recalls, reliability, and time to fix things….GM and the 6.2 engine have entered the chat….
Have they fixed the ICCU yet? If so, I’m all in.
I like the EV6 (of course) but prefer its brother from another mother the Hyundai Ionic 5 due to its greater cargo capacity and overall look.
I wonder how many prospective EV6 buyers near these dealers don’t qualify for the federal $7,500. tax credit at all, but don’t know it. I’ll wager that it’s more than a few, mistakenly thinking that it’s a government funded discount or rebate or something. When it goes away, Kia’s going to sell even fewer of these every month than it does now.
Which is a shame… the Kia/Hyundai EV6/Ionic 5 (and 6) are all supposed to be quite decent EVs and pretty good cars in general/overall. I’ve get to encounter an Ionic 5 driver who isn’t effusive with praise for their car, though yes, I know a small percentage have had to have their ICCUs replaced.
I’d LOVE a base/RWD/small battery Ionic 5 in whatever shade of paint they offer that passes as an actual color.
You can get a used EV6 GT with relatively low miles (10k to 20k), in the high 20’s or low 30s. That’s over 500 HP and 0-60 in the low 3’s. Thats crazy performance-to-dollar ratio.
I bought a 2023 EV6 Wind eAWD two years ago – when they put the rebate on to make up for the lack of a tax credit.
I absolutely love this car.
But ugh I just know the value is plummeting even more because this country elected a moron.
It was plummeting before that too. I was heavily researching the market for a year before I bought my Y Performance last September, the EV6 was my second choice. All of these EVs, even before the Hertz sell-off, were relative losers when sold within the first few years.
oh I know, that’s why I said “even more” 🙂
To get more range we need to pay more for batteries, that makes sense. What I don’t get is why we have to pay for more hp/torque to get the extra mileage. Or are those things somehow free, like the larger batteries can discharge faster and spin the electric hamsters harder?
Larger motors increase your capacity to use them for regenerative braking as they can recover more energy. Relatively speaking to an ICE car, the additional power and torque is basically free.
Plus, with more batteries comes more weight so you need more power to move it along.
hadn’t thought of the weight. the added hp/torque may just keep the long range one on-par (performance wise) than the short range option.
the marketing got me.
your power output is a function of your battery capacity. these are thousands of cells. the more batteries you have the more energy you can discharge and recharge. consider a tiny flashlight that runs off of 2 AA cell flashlight vs a spot light that runs off of D cell batteries. AA and D cell batteries both output 1.5 volts but the increased number of ‘cells’ give the electrons more “pushing” power.
Also consider , for example a car battery say a small Honda vs a heavy duty truck car battery. they are both 12.5v batteries but the smaller battery would not have the output to start the truck.
another way to think of a charged battery is like compressed springs. whenever you complete a circuit with the battery you are “letting go” of the springs. bigger battery means more springs!
It’s not free, but it’s not much more expensive. Bigger battery means bigger maximum discharge rate, which means more power available. Bigger inverter and motors add some extra cost and weight but not much. Especially since you don’t need a beefier transmission to deal with the torque.
If you’re selling a big expensive heavy car anyways, it’s a relatively small increase in weight and cost to bump the inverter and motors up to match the battery output, and a $55,000 car with 320HP is compelling to a lot more people than a $53,000 car with 150HP.
Not a fan of the new headlights, which is why I got a 2024 before they ran out of them. Less range, outdated route planning, but otherwise a nice vehicle.
They nailed the front end look for 2023-24. Took a step back with the ‘facelift’
I wouldn’t trust any dealer in Orlando (or Tampa or Miami) on advertised price. Florida cities are infamously the worst in the nation, and they’ll try to make it back in bogus fees or mandatory warranty adds. Especially if you’ve traveled from afar on an internet deal.
And being a H/K dealer, I’m sure they’ll go the extra mile for shadyness.
Came here to say this. The Florida legislature has never seen fit to put a cap on DOC fees or any of that other nonsense. I’ve seen DOC fees of $2k+. And if you live anywhere from Orlando south, they’ve got you over a barrel. It’s not likely you’d go to Georgia or Alabama to get a better deal.
$2K in doc fees? Jesus Christ did they hire Jones Day to prepare the docs?
Jones Day is probably cheaper.
I quite like my AWD EV6, it’s done well for me as a commuter and road trip/ski trip car. Range is solid, charging is scary quick (on a good charger) and the cabin is a quiet, comfortable place to spend the time. Unfortunately I bought mine a bit early (’23) so the deals weren’t nearly as good.
Same. Our AWD ’23 is my wife’s daily driver and our road trip car. She adores it. It’s fast and comfortable, has a spacious cabin, and gets us to and from southern Vermont skiing on one charge even with reduced winter range (YMMV of course). We have had two recalls – irritating since the nearest Kia dealer is an hour away, but it’s been reliable otherwise.
Let me know when they have the ICCU issue actually fixed.
Anecdotally, there are a few (4 or 5?) in our parkinglot at the office, and all the owners really like them.
I know this dealer. They’re fucking scumbags.
Take this price with a HUGE grain of salt.
Since several dealers were mentioned in the article I was going to ask which one you were talking about. But then I remembered we’re talking about Kia dealers so your comment probably applies to all of them.
HAH! Greenway East in Orlando.
I have seen maybe one of these in the wild, but I get flyers from the local Kia dealer all the time wanted to sell me one. I don’t think they look terrible, but I don’t think they look great, so I can see why I see more Ioniq models than their Kia twins.
Mostly because they were discounting those already. A local dealer wanted to sell me a GT at better than GT-Line prices when I was frustrated with them for a number of reasons. I almost went for it, but I was mad at Kia and the dealer, so I didn’t really want to give them my business.
Same dealer also said Kia was discontinuing the EV6 because it was being replaced by the EV9, so it’s entirely possible they just staff the place with idiots.
$19,000 off and you don’t have to put your tender heart in a blender.
Well, now I’m through with you.
Come visit us at Ron Daewoo! Where we’re through with you!™
(now there’s a joke that’s been rattling around in the back of my brain for over 20 years)
I flew down to California from WA this weekend and had to rent a car. The least expensive were EVs: Chevy Bolt, Kia Niro EV etc. But the charging stations were not convenient for where I am staying.
The most annoying thing about renting EV’s is they don’t give you the level 1 charging cord. Thankfully I was able to borrow one from my uncle, but it would have been absolutely miserable without it.
That’s weird.
When I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz – it had the cable in the frunk.
I had a Polestar 2 through Thrifty and was not given a charger. They also tried to actively dissuade me from going through with the rental. Loved the car though.
The problem for the EV6 is that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 exists. The EV6 puts form over function while the Ionic 5 gives you both form and function.
It may lack function, I don’t actually know, but IMO it also lacks form. It’s hideous.
What function is the EV6 missing now?
Being able to see out the back, fitting adults in the back seats, and less cargo space.
I have to disagree with you on this one, I test drove both, and they both have issues with cargo volume due to the shape of the rear.
I ultimately much preferred driving the EV6, and bought it instead.
I do miss the utility of my previous XC70 T6 though.
I think advertising the $7500 credit in the dealer price is deceiving. Not everyone is going to qualify for it and to my understanding actually claiming it is a bit of a pain in the ass, like all things tax related here in Yee Haw land. Aren’t the Hyundai/Kia EVs running into pretty serious software issues as well?
The internet is chock full of recent horror stories about them…and as the owner of a Hyundai let me tell you, you get what you pay for. The money you save up front is completely meaningless in the long term once the sledgehammer that is Korean car depreciation hits your family jewels. These things are gonna be worth like $7 5 years from now and unless you’ve got a fat down payment you’re gonna be underwater as soon as you drive the damn thing off the lot.
The Integrated Charging Control Unit (ICCU) keeps failing on both the EV6 and Ioniq 5 (I suspect it affects the Ioniq 6 also, but there’s less info out there on that), its both a hardware and software problem, the unit itself does have faulty software, but it also bricks by blowing an internal fuse, requiring replacement of the unit. Hyundai-Kia don’t have enough parts inventory, and there’s no guarantee the new one won’t fail again anyway, so cars seem to pile up at dealers waiting for fixes
South Korean market ones also had serious coolant leak issues, but I don’t think that’s been as big of a deal here
They never have enough parts to keep up with the mass quantities of their cars kerploding. Mine suffered from a well known N ailment-faulty knock sensors. Last fall when it was wet the engine went into limp mode. It was with the dealership on and off for a few weeks before they got all the approvals to replace the sensors under warranty.
Fortunately the fix worked, but if it didn’t I was slated for a full engine replacement which would take 6-12 months because of how backlogged Hyundai was with warranty work. All of this happened on a car that had roughly 15,000 miles on it at the time and has always gotten its preventative maintenance on time.
Suffice to say, the products may look, feel, and drive better than ever…but Hyundai/Kia are still very much run like bargain basement brands. It seems like the QC issues are going to haunt them in perpetuity unless something changes…
It amazes me how far out Hyundai/Kia always are on warranty work. I had a friend with one of the many engines that kept blowing up in her Sonata, and the first time it took like 8 months, then she put I’m pretty sure less than 10k on the new engine before it blew again. That time was fast by their standards, and she had the car back after only 4ish months. And people wonder why I don’t ever advise anyone buy one.
That said, the N cars all seem like a ton of fun and I would consider one for myself, because I’m dumb and will willingly inflict pain upon myself. Never someone else though
The N cars are an absolute riot and by current standards they’re dirt cheap. I love everything about mine except the fact that it rides like absolute shit and the reliability will always be an asterisk. For what it’s worth no one cares about them either. As good as they are they’re never going to overcome the Hyundai stigma. No one is ever going to be like “hey man cool Hyundai” lol.
If you’re interested find a used one that hasn’t fallen victim to the tooner wars. They don’t hold their value at all. You can find a used ICE one in the body configuration of your choice in the low 20s. It’s not like the sporty Hondas, Toyotas, or even Golfs. People that aren’t going to roach them out tend to get out of them quickly once they realize how badly they depreciate.
You can find ones that were owned by people like me (30 something enthusiasts that take care of them) without too much effort. You’ll pay a little extra, but you’re still talking 300ish horsepower and a manual or killer DCT for less than the price of a new Civic.
But we are losing them as well. The teens and 20 somethings that stretch their budgets to get into them are driving them hard and putting them away wet…and many fall victim to tasteless mods and ill-advised tunes. The 4 cylinder is already near its limit from the factory/it’s a Hyundai engine so it’s inherently less reliable to begin with.
People use sketchy third party chips to push them to 350+ horses and they tend to blow up.
Maybe I’m showing my age but… isn’t 300+bhp enough for a dinky little hatchback?
It’s more than enough for me, but I’m a weird 34 year old who hangs out on car blogs and needs something with enough space for a baby and dog. I think for a lot of the youths currently getting into car culture it’s all about numbers. You’re only as good as your last dyno or stoplight race against the impossible to dethrone Civic Type R…
I brought my Ioniq 5 in for the ICCU under recall. Apparently some can be repaired with a software update (mine was one of these).
Yeah I mentioned on here about the Hyundai/Kia ICCU problems (which they are saying is fixed on 2025s and up but you can still find post on reddit and forums where the issue is still there.) I wanted to get a used Ioniq 5 but seeing the ICCU issues and also the older Ioniq 5’s have a dumb type of coolant system in them that needs the coolant replaced every 30k miles I decided to steer clear of them for now.
Also these dealers listing the prices like this is such false advertising it is ridiculous there are a bunch of dealers are Chicago land that will do this with the 7500 and also the 4k off a 25k and under used EV (which you have to be on the lower end of income to even get that) unless I am getting that money off at the dealer when I am signing the contract and it will affect my monthly then it can be shown as money off but since it is not done say the price is some magical number when in reality it should show when you would be paying on the contract.
I agree that including the credit is a bit deceiving, but once some dealers started doing it the others had no choice but to follow (or none of their cars would show up when someone sorted Autotrader by price). It’s even more frustrating on used because of the higher threshold to qualify for that credit and it makes comparing dealer sales to private parties a pain.
On one hand, I was surprised it took YEARS before advertising the $7,500 started becoming popular. I always thought it should be relegated to a footnote and never allowed to be advertised in a deal (except lease deal where it’s a pass-through discount). The whole rollout, management, advertising, and withdrawal of the rebate has been a cluster, and it all could have been done much better. Or not at all.
The rebates had good intentions but to say that the execution left a bit to be desired would be putting it lightly….anyway I assume the current administration’s war on the environment will include rebates for gas guzzlers soon enough.
Until the credit goes away, you should be able to claim it pretty easily at point-of-sale if you qualify. And leasing gets around income restrictions (as well as the other restrictions about battery origin, manufacturing location, and such).
And, for the reasons you mentioned, this is one to lease and release. When I used the lease to get the credit on my RAV4 Prime, I bought it out immediately. I would not do that with a Kia. I really like the EV6 (and drove one for a few weeks during my Niro warranty troubles), but I had enough problems with warranty work on my Niro that I just can’t make myself own an EV6.
Good to know. And I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who’s owned a Hyundai/Kia product who says they’d buy another…which is telling.
My grandparents owned a Soul, then bought a Sorento (for reasons that only made sense to my addled grandma). But the Soul is pretty much the only Kia owners seem to like, so that checks out.
I’d buy another. We’re on our third. Early Excel, late 90s Elantra, currently have a ’21 Kona Electric with 60K trouble free miles.
Ay we found one!
We’ve been a Hyundai family since 2004. Owned a few (only traded in because of mileage), and we’ve never had any major issues. Definitely will buy Hyundai again.
We would. Our ionic has had zero issues. It’s been 5 years. Great mileage. Perfect commuter car and it has some fun in it too. If this article was about the Ionic 5 I would be out the door on my way to an H desler
I’ve been researching Telluride/Palisades and their owners seem to like them. People on the forums who have bought more than one. Others who have owned 20 years worth of Hyundai/Kias and are happy.
Seems the 3.8 V6 might be one of their more reliable motors.
I personally know someone who is on their third. Their last Optima 2.0T was owned for a decade and 100k+ miles with no issues. Replaced it with a Sorrento.
And after my experience at a Honda dealer the other day when shopping, I’m not sure the Hyundai/Kia dealer can be much worse.
Also, I got a trade-in offer mailed to me by the dealer where I leased my Ioniq 5 exactly a years ago. The offer was $23k, the MSRP was $52k.
It does not make sense to own the depreciation on these things. They’ll be available off-lease at great prices and in great quantity.
Yeah, I almost pulled the trigger on a used first edition EV6 in a limited yellow color because it was dirt cheap (and I probably would have bought it if the dealer had agreed to remove the dark tint and not charge me for a lifetime supply of nitrogen for the tires in a state I didn’t want to go back to–then the warranty issues hit and I was done looking). And they’re only going to get cheaper.
Is nitrogen even of any benefit on a road-driven car?
It’s not like you can vacuum out the regular air that’s in the tire when it’s mounted (which is already like 70% nitrogen). On a tire inflated to 30psi that means that half the gas inside would be regular air anyway, even if you fill the rest with nitrogen.
I hate car dealers.
Yeah, I have no interest in paying for nitrogen-filled tires regardless, but it’s especially frustrating when they want to charge me for a service I can’t realistically utilize and do not want.
It’s often not even anything other than regular air, anyway–some folks say the easiest way to remove the charge is to ask to see the nitrogen tanks, since they probably don’t exist. Such a scam.
The atmosphere is just a hair over 78% nitrogen. There is no benefit to paying extra for pure nitrogen, except for the shyster selling it to you.
Tesla used to reduce the prices on their website by tax incentives and potential fuel cost savings.
Several industries seem to quote deceitful retail pricing until an agency cracks down on them. It happened with mobile phones being advertised with a post-rebate price or electronics at BestBuy advertised at low prices only available if you also committed to some subscription service.
Unfortunately, there will be no policing of deceptive advertising for quite some time.
And, if I recall correctly, it defaulted to a comparison against something like 25 mpg and higher than average fuel costs and low electricity costs. I could be misremembering, though. I know you could change the calculation, but I suspect they hoped people wouldn’t.
I’m sure it defaulted to California fuel prices and TVA electricity rates.
Tesla still does that as their default.
Some of the biggest offenders for advertising partial prices are rental cars. It isn’t uncommon to have the real price be 30 – 40% higher than they advertised rate once all the taxes, fees, and “recovery charges” are applied.
However this is an across the board problem in the USA were almost all companies are allowed to advertise partial prices without taxes or fees. Along with tipping it is something that foreign visitors find a bit shocking on a visit to the USA.
I haven’t checked Tesla’s website since the launch of the Model 3.
That was a big turn-off for me. It’s a shady sales tactic. Of course in the intervening years we found out exactly how shady Elon Musk is.
they passed rules a few years ago to let the dealership or manufacturer claim the tax credit and pass the savings on to the customer in the sale price. probably what they should have done day one. it would have let the manufacturer more quickly develop EVs and the consumer gets a smaller car payment!
I never gave these two thoughts, but the couple times I’ve seen them, I was impressed at the cohesiveness of the design. It genuinely looks “Good Futuristic” instead of the “WTF Futuristic” the affects so many EVs, especially the Korean ones. I also didn’t know it wasn’t just a Hyundai Ioniq5 clone, either (EDIT: It is, but the gap in some of the specs confused me). But if we’re racing to get that sweet, sweet $7,500 cash, I’m still more willing to hold out on a new RAV-4 PHEV. I feel like that’s one I’m more willing to buy and keep for a decade, not just sit around worrying about obselescence.
my buddy has the EV6 GT and really seems to like it.