As the auto industry faces a slowdown, Kia Canada is achieving record sales thanks to a bet on affordable electric vehicles (EVs) and a tariff-immune supply chain.
Despite back-to-back years of record sales, the Korean automaker, which entered the Canadian market in 1999, believes it will reach new heights next year thanks to four new EVs, including one that’s practically custom-made for Canadians.
Kia launched its first EV in 2014 and, in a signal of its future ambitions, changed its name from “Kia Motors” to “Kia Corporation” in early 2021.
“As part of that exercise we changed our logo, we changed our brand motif, we changed our way of doing things, and all that has come together very well to show the next generation where Kia wants to go,” says Elias El-Achhab, the vice-president and chief operating officer of Kia Canada. “The rebranding really resonated with Canadian consumers.”
In April, Kia Canada set a monthly record with nearly 10,000 sales, then broke it in May and again in June, finishing the first half of 2025 with a new half-year benchmark of more than 50,000 sales.
“Our vehicles, our marketing, and how we set up our dealer network in Canada is really resonating with consumers,” El-Achhab says. “Even at a time where consumers are not throwing as much money at vehicles, they’re looking at what the car offers in terms of value, and I think we offer that.”
The lifelong automobile enthusiast from Lebanon began working with cars as a teen growing up in Toronto. After two decades in engineering, financing and sales for brands like Hyundai and GM, El-Achhab was hired as chief operating officer of Kia Canada in 2019 as the brand pivoted toward EVs and tech.
Since his arrival the company has grown 20 per cent in Canada, now the global brand’s sixth largest market, with nearly 200 dealerships and about 700 employees.
Kia Canada’s record-setting sales performance comes at a time when domestic automakers are struggling with constantly shifting and potentially devastating tariff threats from across the border, alongside declining consumer sentiment and relatively high interest rates.
The Star recently spoke with El-Achhab from Kia Canada’s head offices in Mississauga about how the trade war is bad for business regardless of where its cars are made, what it will take for EVs to overtake the combustion engine, and a preview of a new vehicle he believes will take the country by storm.
Were you always into cars?
I’ve always had a passion for vehicles. It was the idea of freedom, design, power, engineering, speed and efficiency all coming together that drew me in. As a teenager I worked for Canadian Tire and then at a Chrysler dealership in the service department.
Is that why you chose to study engineering?
I was always interested in how things work, how things come together into the design. That’s why I studied chemical engineering, where I could explore both sides in terms of mechanical and chemical reactionary things, but also the process engineering piece that was part of the program. That’s what really interested me.
How did you end up in sales?
By the time I graduated I had already been on the service side of the house for about seven or eight years, and I had a combination of some field experience and a degree in chemical engineering, so I applied for a job at Hyundai as a technical writer.
There I was able to work my way from the service side to the sales side and eventually took over the whole sales department.
Then I got an opportunity for work for GM Financial as it was starting up. I helped them set up their new leasing side of the house, which was interesting, and after that I got the opportunity to run a dealer group out in Ottawa.
I took a bit of a chance moving my family to Ottawa for about seven years. When I started, we had five stores, and by the time I left we were at 11 stores. Then I got the opportunity to move back to Toronto with Kia.
Why did you take the job with Kia?
It was an opportunity to get into a company that was still young but had lots of opportunities ahead of it. I liked the idea of working for an underdog that was always pushing things to the next level.
I knew they had some exciting things coming out over the next few years and I felt like if I had the opportunity to put the right Canadian spin on it, we could really shoot this company up.
How has the brand managed to make a name for itself in Canada?
The credit goes to our senior leadership in Korea who came up with a plan to take the company from a traditional automotive manufacturer to a true mobility company. Even our name changed from Kia Motors to Kia Corporation.
As part of that exercise we changed our logo, we changed our brand motif, we changed our way of doing things, and all that has come together very well to show the next generation where Kia wants to go. The rebranding really resonated with Canadian consumers.
We’re moving toward the future of the car business with a big push on technology, on the connected car, on electrification.
Many auto brands are moving in a similar direction, what makes Kia’s efforts unique?
I think our tenacity is at a different level.
When we talk about our commitment to electrification and the planet, for example, it’s a true commitment, and it doesn’t waiver or change based on the sort of flavour of the month. This is a long-term vision and a clear direction for the company.
We’ve been in EVs since 2014, and we now have a slew of battery, plug-in and hybrid models, as well as high-efficiency gas models.
We’ve been investing in this for a long time, and we’re doubling down again, because we know this is the future.
What’s next for your EV lineup?
In January we’re going to be releasing another EV in a new segment that we’re not in today, and in 2026 we’ll have three more focused on large growth segments, where there is lots of demand in Canada, at prices made to compete against traditional gas-powered vehicles.
We’re going to have an all-electric purpose-built vehicle with a modular configuration — kind of like a cargo van — a compact car EV, a subcompact SUV EV, and a compact SUV EV, which is the largest segment in the country.
That vehicle, the EV5, is the one we’re most excited about. The compact SUV segment accounts for over one-third of all cars sold in Canada, and the EV5 will be priced comparably to many of its combustion-engine equivalents but will be better equipped.
It’s also unique to Canada in North America. It’s being built in Korea and won’t be available in the United States or Mexico. We expect that to be our largest volume EV next year, and eventually our number one volume vehicle.
Does Canada have the infrastructure to support widespread EV adoption?
There is still some range anxiety, and there’s a lot that needs to happen to do better on that front.
We’ve opened EV education and inspiration centres in B.C. and Quebec, where we don’t do any sales, but try to inform the public about EVs.
There’s also a need for more fast charging infrastructure, and for incentives that can keep EVs priced similarly to alternatives; that’s where governments need to get involved.
We also need to promote more home charging, because that is the easiest, cheapest and most convenient option.
We’re working hard with different companies to offer an innovative new technology that will make home EV charging easier, so you don’t need to pay thousands to upgrade your electricity panel, you can just use an adapter.
Are you worried that, given the state of the housing market and your younger consumer base, many don’t own a parking spot?
Around 70 per cent of Canadians have a garage or designated parking space, including in condo buildings where they can set up charging stations. We also believe there’s lots of opportunity in rural areas, because rural customers spend most of their time in their own community, and have plenty of space for home charging.
Our customers aren’t just young people either; we also have lots of older folks, but oddly few in the middle.
I think the biggest barrier isn’t range anxiety, but pricing. Studies show that EVs end up costing the same as non-EVs over the life of their vehicle, but it’s hard to ask folks to spend more upfront, especially now.
There’s also fear of tariffs increasing car costs. Is that a concern for Kia?
We have manufacturing in Mexico and South Korea as well as the United States, over 70 per cent of our products come from outside of the U.S., and we can pivot between our production locations based on the tariff situation, so that’s advantageous.
Even if we’re not as directly affected as those brands that manufacture across the border, tariffs and reciprocal tariffs are not good for Canadian consumers. We might get a bigger piece of the pie, but the pie will shrink, debt levels will go up, and we’d prefer not having to face that situation.
We don’t think we need any advantages, we can compete on a level playing field, and the most important thing is for our consumers, manufactures and businesses to have some consistency and predictably, because the volatility isn’t good for anyone.
