"After 13 Years"... Hyundai Motor Group Surpasses 1 Million Cumulative Eco-Friendly Vehicle Sales in Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Hyundai Motor Group's cumulative domestic sales of eco-friendly vehicles have surpassed 1 million units. It has been 13 years since the group officially entered the eco-friendly vehicle market by launching the Avante LPi Hybrid in July 2009.

According to Hyundai Motor Group on the 8th, Hyundai Motor and Kia sold 29,484 eco-friendly vehicles in the domestic market in July this year, bringing the cumulative sales of eco-friendly vehicles to 1,023,484 units.

By company, Hyundai Motor (including the premium brand Genesis) sold 556,854 units (143,636 electric vehicles, 24,874 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, 388,344 hybrid vehicles). Kia sold 466,630 units (86,100 electric vehicles, 380,530 hybrid vehicles).

The best-selling model in cumulative domestic sales is Hyundai Motor's Grandeur Hybrid. Since its launch in 2013, 183,837 units have been sold. From 2018 (24,568 units) through 2019 (29,708 units), 2020 (38,989 units), and last year (26,977 units), it sold more than 20,000 units for four consecutive years.

With the release of the fully redesigned 7th generation Grandeur model in the second half of this year, the cumulative sales of the Grandeur Hybrid are expected to soon exceed 200,000 units.

Following the Grandeur Hybrid, Kia's Niro Hybrid ranked second with cumulative sales of 126,485 units. The first generation Niro was released in 2016, and the fully redesigned second generation model was launched this year after six years.

Next in line were the Sonata Hybrid (98,323 units), Sorento Hybrid (85,809 units), and K8 and K7 Hybrids (73,845 units), ranking among the top five eco-friendly vehicle sales.

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Nexo also contributed to Hyundai Motor Group's increase in eco-friendly vehicle sales, with 24,667 units sold. After selling 727 units in its launch year of 2018, sales increased annually with 4,194 units in 2019, 5,786 units in 2020, and 8,502 units last year. This year, over 5,000 units have been sold as of last month.

As the electrification trend accelerates, Hyundai Motor Group's eco-friendly vehicle sales are expected to increase further. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, the first model to apply Hyundai Motor Group's dedicated electric vehicle platform 'E-GMP,' has sold 40,876 units in just over a year since its launch in April last year. The Kia EV6, which uses the same platform, sold 26,230 units, and the Genesis GV60 sold 5,127 units. The cumulative sales of these three models total 72,233 units.

Domestic sales of dedicated electric vehicles based on Hyundai Motor Group's E-GMP platform are expected to exceed 100,000 units as early as this year. Next month, Hyundai Motor's first electric sedan, the Ioniq 6, will be launched. Additionally, Kia's high-performance model of the EV6, the EV6 GT, will be released within this year. Next year, Kia's second dedicated electric vehicle based on E-GMP, the large electric SUV EV9, will be launched.