'Tesla's Sprint' Imported Electric Vehicle Market Grows 8.5 Times Larger Than Last Year

Tesla Dominates with 10,518 Units Sold by September
Domestic Electric Cars Sold 13,505 Units... 40% Decrease YoY

Tesla Model 3.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] This year, the domestic imported electric vehicle (EV) market has grown nearly tenfold compared to last year, led by Tesla. In contrast, sales of domestic electric vehicles have significantly declined due to model aging and adverse events such as fires. As a result, the gap between the imported EV market and the domestic EV market has narrowed considerably to fewer than 300 units.

According to data from the Korea Imported Automobile Association and Kaizyu Data Research Institute on the 18th, the number of imported electric vehicles sold from January to September this year reached 13,261 units, an 8.5-fold increase compared to the same period last year. During this period, 8 out of 10 imported EVs sold domestically were Teslas. In September alone, Tesla recorded 2,056 units, accounting for 91.9% of total imported EV sales.

The New EQC 400 4MATIC Premium (Photo by Mercedes-Benz Korea)

Other imported car manufacturers are gradually expanding their electric vehicle lineups, but their presence remains limited in the face of Tesla's rapid growth. The Peugeot e-208 and e-2008, launched in July, sold only 76 and 44 units respectively since their release. The Mercedes-Benz EQC 4MATIC sold a total of 333 units this year. Audi, however, maintained its pride with its brand's first pure electric vehicle, the e-tron 55 quattro, which sold out approximately 600 units of imported stock within two months of its July launch. Nevertheless, excluding Tesla, the sales volume of imported EV brands has also shown clear growth, more than tripling compared to the same period last year through September.

In contrast to the strong performance of imported EVs, domestic electric vehicle sales are sluggish. From January to September this year, domestic automakers' EV sales recorded 13,505 units, down 40.9% from last year. Hyundai Motor Company's Kona EV and Ioniq EV sales decreased by 36.5% and 22.9% respectively, while Kia Motors' Niro EV and Soul EV sales plummeted by more than half.

Kona EV (Photo by Hyundai Motor Company)

Of course, there remains potential for a turnaround next year. Hyundai Kia Motors is positioning next year as the inaugural year for an electric vehicle leap, announcing plans to launch electric vehicles equipped with the next-generation dedicated EV platform E-GMP. Above all, to avoid losing leadership in the EV market, the Kona EV incident?which recently triggered concerns about EV safety due to a series of fires?must be resolved swiftly.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.