Hyundai, Kia on course for record EV sales in Europe

Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s top carmaker, is on course for record electric vehicle sales in Europe, with its new models' expansion in the world’s second-largest EV market accelerating.

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., the two automakers of the country’s No. 3 conglomerate, sold a combined 119,153 EVs in Europe in the first 10 months of 2022, up 13.6% from a year earlier, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association on Sunday. Last year, the two companies sold 135,408 EVs in total.

Their sales gained momentum thanks to the latest EV models – Hyundai’s first fully electric sedan IONIQ 6 and Kia’s electric crossover utility vehicle EV6, while the Hyundai IONIQ 5 has already been attracting European customers, industry sources in Seoul said.

“Hyundai and Kia are expected to easily achieve record EV sales in Europe if the IONIQ 6 fuels strong growth of the IONIQ 5 and the EV6,” said one of the sources.

The IONIQ 6 unveiled in South Korea in July was more popular in Europe than expected. Ahead of its official launch at the end of this year or the beginning of 2023, Hyundai has sold out the 2,500 exclusively limited units of IONIQ 6 First Edition within 24 hours at pre-sale events in the company’s key EV markets -- Germany, the UK, France, Norway and the Netherlands.

The EV6 has been recognized for its performance and marketability in Europe, being named the 2022 Car of the Year at the prestigious European Car of the Year (COTY) awards.

The European EV market is important to Hyundai Motor Group as it has been sluggish in China, the world’s largest car market, and the Biden administration’s policy to protect the US EV industry may hinder its growth in the world’s No. 3 EV market.

SOLD NEARLY HALF A MILLION EVS

Hyundai and Kia have sold nearly a half million EVs so far in Europe.

Hyundai has shipped 237,631 units in the region as of end-October. The electric version of the small sport utility vehicle Kona was the best-selling EV with 145,144 units sold. The company has sold 49,241 units of the IONIQ Electric compact five-door liftback and 43,246 units of the IONIQ 5, the first model under its standalone EV sub-brand.

Kia has sold 200,984 EVs in Europe as of the end of October. It sold 63,419 EVs last year and 39,031 units of those models in 2020.

Its top EV was the Niro EV as the company has shipped 121,852 units of the electric version of the CUV.

The company has also sold 46,791 units of the Soul EV and 32,341 units of the EV6.

Write to Il-Gue Kim at black0419@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.