We first learned back in December that the Kia EV6 was being dropped from the Korean automaker’s Canadian lineup. The brand will sell off any remaining units of the 2025 edition of the EV, but don’t look for it in the 2026 model-year roster. It’s done and gone.
This came after Kia Canada previously killed off the EV6 GT high-performance version after the 2024 model-year.
The decision is the latest example of the changes Kia and Hyundai, its stablemate within the Hyundai Group, are making regarding their EV offerings in North America. But what’s interesting is that the Canadian and U.S. divisions of each automaker are making different choices.
The EV6, for example, is gone from Canada but remains alive and kicking in the U.S., at least for now. The EV6 GT, for its part, is finished on both sides of the 49th Parallel (until further notice, in the U.S.). And remember as well that for 2026 Kia Canada is introducing the EV5 electric SUV, which is not coming to the U.S. As for the EV4 electric sedan, also coming to Canada this year, Kia in the U.S. has put a hold on launching it there.
Over at Hyundai, meanwhile, we learned recently that the Ioniq 6 EV is officially done and gone in the U.S., but not in Canada. Here, Hyundai is simply skipping the 2026 model-year for it, with a plan to introduce the new and revised Ioniq 6 (just revealed in Asia) for the 2027 model-year. But, the new Ioniq 6 N performance variant, also recently unveiled, will be marketed in both Canada and the U.S., this year.
Confused? We don’t blame you.
Part of the reason for the divergent decisions regarding the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Kia EV6 EVs has to do with their divergent sales performances on either side of the Canada-U.S. border. The Ioniq 6 outsold the EV6 by almost two-to-one in Canada last year, while in the U.S., the EV6 outsold the Ioniq 6 by some 20 percent.
But in both cases, sales were relatively weak, hence the trimming of the offerings as both Korean automakers adjust to the rapidly shifting EV landscape while trying not to lose their shirts. And keep in mind those disappearing EV incentives in both the U.S. and Canada. The Canadian one is back, at least, and that might help explain Kia Canada’s decision to bring in new EVs like the EV4 and EV5 that its U.S. counterpart has decided to pass on for now. And part of the reason for that is that Kia faces tariffs on its EVs assembled in South Korea and imported stateside.