Hyundai Motor Group ranks fifth in EV sales

It has been confirmed that Hyundai Motor Group's cumulative global electric vehicle sales from January to August surpassed last year's annual sales, ranking it 5th among global automakers.

According to MarkLines, a global automotive market research company, and the earnings reports of each company on Thursday, Hyundai Motor Group sold 228,588 pure electric vehicles (BEVs) cumulatively until last August. This is more than the total sales of 216,562 units sold last year, and annual sales this year are expected to exceed 300,000.

For the first eight years of this year, the automakers that sold more electric vehicles than Hyundai Motor Group were Tesla of the U.S. (891,978 units), BYD Auto of China (488,671 units), GM Group of the U.S. (394,440 units), and Volkswagen of Germany (309,109 units). As for GM Group, EV sales through SAIC-GM-Wuling, a Chinese joint venture, reached 83.8 percent. BYD is also heavily dependent on the Chinese domestic market. On the other hand, Hyundai Motor Group is rapidly expanding its influence in non-Chinese EV markets such as Europe and the United States. However, due to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) implementation, all HMG models are excluded from the EV subsidy (tax credit), which is considered a future variable. “As new electric vehicles from global competitors are being introduced as well as the implementation of the IRA, Hyundai Motor Group is in dire need of expanding its electric vehicle lineup.”


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com