From Electric Cars to Hybrids... "Eco-Friendly Cars: Kia > Hyundai"

Last Month's New Domestic Vehicle Registrations
3 out of 10 Are Eco-Friendly Cars
Kia, 40% of Trucks Are Electric Vehicles
Hyundai Motor and Renault Executive
Despite Prolonged New Car Delivery Delays
Sales Continue to Show Steady Growth

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Last month, eco-friendly vehicles accounted for about 3 out of every 10 newly registered cars in South Korea. This is attributed to the continued popularity of hybrids due to high oil prices and the increasing variety of pure electric vehicle models. In particular, Kia's eco-friendly vehicles made up about one-third of all new registrations, with approximately 40% of its trucks being electric vehicles.

According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association on the 20th, a total of 143,969 vehicles (including vans, trucks, and special vehicles) were newly registered last month. By fuel type, eco-friendly vehicles such as hybrids, electric vehicles, and hydrogen cars totaled 42,835 units, accounting for 29.8%. In comparison, in February, one month earlier, 28,833 eco-friendly vehicles were newly registered, making up about 25.2%.

Due to supply issues with parts such as automotive semiconductors and wiring harnesses, production of finished vehicles has been disrupted, causing prolonged delays in new car deliveries. However, sales of eco-friendly vehicles have continued to steadily grow this year.

By manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Company had 12,884 eco-friendly vehicles out of 55,155 units, accounting for about 23.4%. Kia, a group affiliate, sold 45,583 units, about 10,000 fewer than Hyundai, but had 15,354 eco-friendly vehicles, which was more. Kia's eco-friendly vehicle share reached 33.7%, meaning one out of every three newly sold vehicles was eco-friendly. By vehicle type, passenger cars accounted for 13,032 units and trucks for 2,322 units.

EV6 on the production line at Kia Hwaseong Plant. Kia's first dedicated electric vehicle.

Among Kia's passenger cars, eco-friendly models include the Sorento and Sportage hybrids, the dedicated electric vehicle EV6, the Niro electric vehicle, which are sport utility vehicles (SUVs), and the K5 and K8 hybrid sedans. For trucks, there is the Bongo EV. The share of eco-friendly vehicles among Kia's trucks reached 40.9%. The industry reports that demand is surging at the last minute as the free issuance of commercial license plates for electric trucks is scheduled to expire at the end of this month. Kia's eco-friendly vehicle share in new registrations was 33.4% in February as well, indicating this is not a temporary performance. Considering Hyundai offers 12 eco-friendly models (including Genesis) compared to Kia's 9, Kia's results stand out.

Excluding Hyundai and Kia, other domestic automakers had little to no new registrations of eco-friendly vehicles. SsangYong Motor's first electric vehicle, the Korando e-Motion, began customer deliveries last month, resulting in an eco-friendly vehicle share of 1.3%. Korea GM and Renault Korea Motors had no new registrations of hybrids or electric vehicles.

For imported cars, out of 28,624 newly registered vehicles, 13,874 (48.5%) were eco-friendly, nearly half. However, imported vehicles include 9,472 hybrid vehicles, a significant portion of which are mild hybrids that have a relatively smaller role for the electric motor compared to conventional hybrids. Mild hybrids are a method commonly used by European manufacturers and are not officially classified as eco-friendly vehicles in South Korea, but due to the lack of detailed criteria in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's registration statistics, they are included under hybrids.

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