Kia EV9 sweeps European awards, sees strong US pre-orders

The Kia EV9, the flagship large all-electric sport utility vehicle of South Korea’s No. 2 automaker, is sweeping major industrial awards in Europe, the world’s third-largest electric vehicle market while enjoying strong pre-orders in the US.

Kia Corp. said on Sunday the EV9 won the 2024 Danish Car of the Year's Innovation Award from Danske Motorjournalist, Denmark's Automobile Journalists Association. In Spain, the pure-electric large SUV claimed the Moveo Car of the Year Award 2023, an accolade given by the local daily newspaper La Vanguardia based on experts' evaluation and a survey of subscribers.

The SUV built on Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) was named Family Car of the Year at the TopGear.com Awards 2023 in the UK while winning German Car of the Year 2024.

The seven-seater was a finalist for the 2024 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year, the European Car of the Year 2024 and the 2024 World Car Awards.

“The EV9 proved its excellent marketability (through those awards),” said a Kia official. “In the US, we have received pre-orders from all 50 states since we started collecting pre-orders about a month ago.”

RECORD SALES

Kia and its larger affiliate Hyundai Motor Co. aim to expand their presence in the US, the world’s second-largest automobile market, by introducing new models, including the EV 9, as Hyundai Motor Group, the No. 3 global carmaker, enjoys record sales there.

Hyundai and Kia topped the 1.5 million unit-mark of annual sales for the first time in the January-November period.

Hyundai Motor America sold 788,403 vehicles including its premium Genesis models in the first 11 months, up 12.2% from a year earlier, with November sales rising 11.4% to 76,066 units.

Kia’s US unit sold 722,176 vehicles in the January-November period, exceeding its sales of 693,549 units for all of 2022, as November sales grew 2.9%.

Their combined sales of 1.51 million vehicles in the 11 months exceeded their previous sales record of 1.49 million units logged in the whole of 2021.

Write to Nan-Sae Bin at binthere@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.