Hyundai Kona Electric. Photo Hyundai Motor Company
– The cumulative sales of eco-friendly cars from Hyundai and Kia this year (January to November) exceeded 450,000 units. It is 7.8% of the total sales volume (575 million units) during this period. Sales of eco-friendly vehicles (pure electric vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen electric vehicles) continue to increase in the second half of the year, and the combined sales figures for this month are expected to reach 500,000 units this year.
According to the automobile industry and IR data, Hyundai-Kia Motors sold 14,5545 eco-friendly cars in the domestic market and 306266 eco-friendly cars overseas. In the overseas market, electric vehicles and hybrids (HEV) were good, and in the domestic market, the HEV division was good.
In domestic demand, it sold 25,828 electric cars and 11,040 HEVs. While sales of electric vehicles for passenger cars have slowed, Hyundai Motor’s electric truck Porter (8585 units) and Kia Motors’ Bongo EV (4523 units) performed well. In the HEV segment, Hyundai Grandeur (35,634 units) showed an overwhelming sales performance.
In the overseas market, it surpassed 300,000 units, recording 133,288 electric vehicles, 118816 HEVs, and 49299 PHEVs. Hydrogen electric vehicles such as the Nexo sold 6318 units, both domestically and exported. In particular, this year, global automakers were doing a good job in Europe. Hyundai’s Kona Electric sold 39,820 units in Europe, and Kia’s Niro EV sold 2,7829 units. Considering that 7888 units and 3006 units were sold in the Korean market during this period, it sold six times the size of the domestic market.
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Kia Niro EV. Pictures kia
– The reason why Hyundai-Kia Motors is focusing on selling eco-friendly cars in the European market is because the European Union (EU) has strengthened carbon dioxide emission regulations and increased subsidies for electric vehicles from this year. The EU plans to impose penalties from 2022 on companies that exceed carbon dioxide emissions (95g/km) as of this year and next year. At this time,’Credits’ of 1.67~2 (as of 2020) per electric vehicle is applied. This is a provision that does not apply the regulation to two internal combustion locomotives if one electric vehicle with a carbon dioxide emission of’zero’ is sold.
The industry predicted that Hyundai and Kia would avoid the penalty if they continue this sales trend in Europe next year (credit 1.67 applied). However, as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW are scheduled to introduce new electric vehicle models next year, competition is expected to intensify even more.
Lee Hang-gu, a senior research fellow at the Korea Automobile Research Institute, said, “Amid no conspicuous competitors other than Tesla and Volkswagen this year, Kona and Niro EVs made a good mark in Europe with cost-performance.” It can be difficult to maintain market share,” he said.
Reporter Kim Young-joo [email protected]
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