Domestic Eco-Friendly Vehicle Market to Soon Enter the '1 Million Units Era'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Je-hoon] With the popularity of electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid vehicles (HEV), the era of 1 million eco-friendly cars in South Korea is approaching.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's vehicle registration statistics on the 11th, as of the end of May, the number of eco-friendly cars supplied domestically was 938,966, a 40.6% increase compared to the same period last year. The proportion of eco-friendly cars among all registered vehicles also approached 4%, reaching 3.82%.

By vehicle type, HEVs were the most numerous with 764,583 units, a 37.9% increase from the previous year, followed by electric vehicles which increased by 50.7% to 159,851 units. Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) nearly doubled with a 98.7% increase to 14,532 units.

The industry expects no significant difficulties in surpassing 1 million eco-friendly vehicle registrations within the year, as major domestic and imported car manufacturers plan to launch new eco-friendly models in the second half of this year.

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia recently launched the Santa Fe Hybrid and plan to release the Sportage Hybrid model along with their first dedicated electric vehicle model, the EV6. Their premium subsidiary brand, Genesis, also recently launched its first electrified model, the G80e. Additionally, Genesis plans to release its first compact mid-size sports utility vehicle (SUV) equipped with the dedicated electric vehicle platform E-GMP within the year.

Furthermore, Korea GM will launch the Bolt EUV in the second half of the year, and Ssangyong Motor plans to pre-launch its first electric vehicle model, the Korando e-Motion, in Europe around October. Imported car manufacturers are also expanding their lineups. Mercedes-Benz will release the new electric large sedan, The New EQS, and BMW will launch models such as the iX and iX3.

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