The Kia Niro EV Is Dead

• Kia has discontinued the Niro EV, which is positioned as the company’s entry-level electric car in the U.S. 
• Earlier this year, the plug-in hybrid Niro also went the way of the dodo.
• The facelifted Niro, which debuted at the beginning of 2026, will be sold exclusively as a hybrid.

Pour one out for the Kia Niro EV. The entry-level electric crossover has been officially discontinued, according to company executives quoted by The Korea Herald.

“The Niro EV, which had been produced until the previous model, has been discontinued,” said Jung Yoon-kyung, a senior manager of the marketing team at Kia. “We plan to sell the remaining inventory available,” she added.

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Source: Kia

The Niro got a comprehensive facelift at the beginning of the year, but at the time, we didn’t know what powertrains would be available for the refreshed crossover. Now, though, it’s clear that the Niro will only be sold as a hybrid going forward, with both the electric and plug-in hybrid versions being discontinued.

In its home market in South Korea, the new Kia Niro will be available with a 1.6-liter hybrid powertrain with a total output of 141 horsepower, with the electric motor providing 43 hp on its own. It’s unclear at this point whether the facelifted model will be sold stateside.

The first-generation Niro EV debuted in 2018, at a time when affordable electric cars were somewhat rare. The second generation debuted in 2021, bringing significant styling changes and a higher DC fast charging power input that made charging stops shorter.

All this being said, the Niro EV slowly went from lovable underdog to a hard-to-explain model in the Korean manufacturer’s U.S. lineup. With a starting price of roughly $40,000 and a 253-mile range, Kia’s cheapest EV stateside lost its shine in a market where the entry-level Tesla Model 3, which is a larger car that can go 321 miles on a full charge, starts from $36,990. Then, there’s the new Chevrolet Bolt EV, which costs less than $30,000, as well as the new Nissan Leaf, which is roughly $30,000.

Keeping the Niro EV alive became an even greater challenge after Kia introduced the EV3 and EV4, two models that are based on more advanced underpinnings and are significantly cheaper than the electric Niro.

Kia will continue to sell pre-facelift inventory cars, but after these are gone, the company’s EV lineup in the U.S. will consist of just two models, the EV6 and EV9. The EV3 and EV4 were originally supposed to be imported stateside, but the ongoing tariff situation and geopolitical environment have kept Kia from moving forward with its initial plan. The Kia EV6 GT is also imported from Korea, which recently prompted the automaker to stop selling it stateside. Meanwhile, the EV9 seven-seat SUV and regular EV6 trims are assembled in the United States, making them immune to shifting import duty policies.