KIA: Record deliveries in Q1

Kia America posted its best quarter ever and a near 20 percent increase in U.S. sales in March thanks to recovering inventory and healthy demand for crossovers as well as availability of "green" vehicles.

In the first three months, Kia logged U.S. sales of 184,136, an increase of 22 percent over the same period last year, and a 15 percent boost over its previous high set in 2021. March also marks Kia's eighth consecutive month of record-breaking sales.

Eric Watson, Kia America's sales chief, also attributed the strong growth to efforts the company has made over the past few years to launch quality products, improve residual values and attract a more affluent customer.

"We're now starting to pull away and see much better performance than the industry and our competitive segments," Watson said.

Dealers also are selling deeper into their stock than ever before.

"We've been able to keep our turn rate high," said Watson. "Prior to the pandemic, dealers sold about 30 percent of their available inventory and now they sell about 65 percent in any given month."

Watson said even more notable is the 15 percent increase in first-quarter sales compared with the first quarter of 2021, when the auto industry experienced a sales "frenzy and boom" as the COVID-19 pandemic eased.

Though consumer demand softened for Kia's EV6 in March and in the first quarter because of the loss of the $7,500 tax credit, The Sportage Telluride, Forte and Carnival posted strong quarterly results and set records in March.

Sales of the Niro, available as a hybrid, plug-in and all-electric model, saw slight growth in the quarter but were down in March. Also responsible for big gains is the three-row Telluride, even after Kia dialed up annualized production to 120,000 last September.

Notable nameplates (Q1): Kia EV6, down 36%; Niro, up 6.5%, Telluride, up 23%; Sportage, up 92%; Sorento, up 13%; Carnival up 76%; Forte, up 30%; Soul, up 20%

Q1 U.S. light-vehicle market share: 5.1% vs. 4.6% in Q1 2022

Incentives: $568 per vehicle in March, down 36% from a year earlier, TrueCar says

Average transaction price: $34,108 in March, down 1.3% from the year-ago month, according to TrueCar

Fleet mix: Fleet accounted for 5% of Kia's total sales in March, according to TrueCar.

Inventory: Kia ended March with a roughly 15-day supply of vehicles, among the lowest in the industry.

Quote: "We're in a little bit of a holding pattern to see what happens with the Inflation Reduction Act and the critical battery mineral sourcing. We think when the government makes a decision there will probably be a lot of repositioning of EVs in the industry." — Eric Watson, Kia America vice president of sales operations