EV sales are up but market share is down. The Kia EV6 shows off a facelift and more range. And BYD drops a Shark of a plug-in hybrid pickup south of the border. This and more, here at DriftBreath Reports.
The same morning the Biden administration hiked tariffs vs. Chinese EVs in an effort to keep them out of the market, China’s BYD Shark plug-in hybrid pickup made its debut in Mexico. As the first completely new BYD to debut outside China, the sub-$55,000 pickup with 62 electric miles provided a political statement even if not intended.
The 2025 Kia EV6 has made a global debut with a larger battery pack and potentially a range boost of 10% or more—plus styling updates that appear to bring this trendsetting electric crossover in alignment with details from Kia’s latest EV9 and upcoming EV3.
And in Q1, U.S. EV market share fell, while EV sales levels remained significantly up on a year-over-year basis. With that as the top-level takeaway of an update from the DOE’s Energy Information Administration, the backstory suggested some complicated dynamics, as a glut of luxury EVs sits in a sagging luxury market, affordable EVs remain scarce as affordability challenges remain, and Tesla managed only slight U.S. sales gains.
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