Hyundai Kona's Brief Hiatus Reflects North American EV Decline

­Hyundai recently announced they’d be pausing the Kona Electric line for 2026, and while that does reflect the company’s fortunes, it’s the tip of the iceberg for EVs in America.

For most of the world, EVs are booming. In 2025, China sold 12.9 million EV units (+17% year over year), Europe sold 4.3 million (+33%), and globally, sales increased by about 20%.

The only outlier is North America, which actually saw a decrease of 2-4%, with 1.8 units sold. While Q3 in America saw record sales – largely due to the September expiration of $7,500 in tax credits – Q4 saw a sharp decline, leading to a modest decrease year-over-year.

And so, American automakers – and those playing in the NA market – are pumping the brakes a bit on EVs. In some of the best corpo-speak ever, Hyundai said that “sufficient stock of the 2025 model year Kona Electric is currently available to meet consumer demand” (i.e., the Kona will be sitting out 2026). 

According to one source, the Kona saw a steep decline in 2025, dropping 41 percent, a decrease of 3,011 units.

But Hyundai isn’t the only one getting skittish about EVs in North America. The Acura ZDX, Nissan Ariya, Genesis Electrified G80, Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS, Polestar 2, Ram 1500 REV, Dodge Charger SRT Daytona Banshee, and several others are either taking a break in 2026 or being discontinued entirely.

And Hyundai noted that "Kona Electric production will return after a short hiatus, with assembly scheduled to resume this June as a 2027 model year."