November 22, 2024

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The Kia EV6 (Hyundai Motor Group)

Hyundai Motor Group ranked second behind Tesla in terms of electric vehicle sales in the United States in January, a report showed Monday.

Citing statistics from S&P Global Mobility, Automotive News said the Korean auto conglomerate’s three brands -- Hyundai Motor, Kia and Genesis -- combined for 8,262 newly registered EVs in the US in January 2024 to account for 9.3 percent of the total market.

According to the report, Tesla registered 48,757 EVs to retain the top spot, while traditional US automakers General Motors and Ford came in at third and fourth place with 6,546 EVs and 5,429 EVs, respectively, registered in the same month.

The US auto news outlet highlighted the growth of the Korean carmaker in the US market, noting that the number of newly registered EVs there from Hyundai Motor increased by 79 percent compared to January 2023. Kia and Genesis, Hyundai Motor’s luxury brand, saw twofold jumps in sales during the same period.

Automotive labeled Hyundai Motor Group’s rise as one of the five main EV trends based on the January data. Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, was quoted as saying that the only obstacle Hyundai Motor Group faces is the lack of EV production in the US but added that once the automaker’s EV manufacturing plant in Georgia gets going, the Korean automaker is expected to expand its market share and move beyond other players.

According to Cox Automotive’s estimates, there were nearly 1.2 million newly registered EVs in the US last year. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6 ranked sixth, eleventh and eighteenth on the list of most-sold EV models. The Korean automaker’s three brands sold 94,340 EVs in the US last year.

Hyundai Motor has picked up EV sales in the US as its three brands combined for almost 15,000 units sold as of February this year, up about 52 percent from the January to February period last year. At the current rate, the carmaker’s US EV sales are forecast to exceed 100,000 this year.

Hyundai Motor has also sped up the completion of its new US plant being built in Bryan County, Georgia, so that it may start production in October this year, about three months ahead of the previous schedule.

“The Hyundai Ioniq series and Kia EV series have been praised by not only US customers and critics but also global drivers and analyzers,” said a Hyundai Motor Group official.

“Once the EV-dedicated plant begins operation at the end of this year, our sales will increase even further.”

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)
The Korea Herald