Hyundai Motor launches trade-in program to revive EV sales

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s top automaker, said on Thursday it introduced a trade-in program in the country for electric vehicles to boost sales of clean automobiles hit by weaker demand.

Hyundai launched on March 1 the trade-in scheme, which allows customers to buy new EVs at discounted prices in exchange for used cars. The program is available for those who sell their existing cars to Hyundai’s certified used car service and buy its new EVs such as the all-electric IONIQ 5 crossover, the IONIQ 6 sedan and the Kona Electric.

Customers who sell their EVs of Hyundai and its premium brand Genesis are eligible to receive proceeds from the sales and compensation of up to 2% of the proceeds along with a discount of 500,000 won ($375.4) when buying new EVs, according to the automaker.

The company also provides customers who sell internal combustion engine vehicles and hybrid cars -- regardless of the make -- with proceeds of sales and compensation of up to 4% along with a discount of 300,000 won.

The program came as Hyundai logged a 30.4% drop in domestic EV sales last year. The company sold 34,793 EVs last year in the country, compared to 49,959 units in 2022, according to the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association.

CERTIFIED USED EV SALES

Hyundai is also set to launch sales of high-quality certified secondhand EVs this month.

“The certified used car program is expected to help customers maintain residual values of their EVs while providing them with more options,” the company said in a statement.

The carmaker plans to buy EVs of Hyundai and Genesis aged two to eight years that have traveled 120,000 kilometers (74,565 miles) or less but sell only those aged two to three years that have driven 60,000 kilometers or less.

That compared with Hyundai’s similar program for used internal combustion engine cars, in which the company sells models that have traveled less than 100,000 kilometers over up to five years.

Hyundai is also poised to check the battery performances of used EVs that it purchases, to sell only certified clean used vehicles that are capable of long driving distances.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.