Musk Praises Hyundai, Tesla's 'Second Place' Challenger: "Doing Quite Well"

Musk Comments on Twitter "Hyundai is doing pretty well"
Hyundai Ranks 2nd in US Electric Vehicle Market Share in Q1...Big Leap from Around 10th Place in 2018

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. Photo by EPA, Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Se-eun] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, praised Hyundai's market share in the U.S. electric vehicle market, saying they are "doing pretty well."

On the 18th (local time), according to EV, a U.S. electric vehicle specialized media outlet, Musk commented "Hyundai is doing pretty well" on a post related to the ranking of electric vehicle market shares in the U.S. for the first quarter of this year, which was posted by a friend on his social media.

According to the post, Tesla held a dominant first place with a 75.8% market share, but Hyundai was second with a market share in the 9% range. Volkswagen (4.6%) and Ford (5.4%) followed behind.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, commented on a post about the U.S. electric vehicle market share rankings for the first quarter of this year on Twitter, saying, "Hyundai is doing pretty well." Photo by Twitter capture

Hyundai previously showcased an outdoor advertisement at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show with the phrase "Elon, your turn now" alongside photos of Hyundai’s electric vehicle models Ioniq, Kona, and Nexo.

At that time, Hyundai’s market ranking was around the top 10, but it has rapidly grown to reach second place recently. In the first quarter, Hyundai’s retail electric vehicle sales increased by 241% compared to the same period last year. Net profit also rose by 17% to 1.78 trillion KRW (1.42 billion USD).

Hyundai explained the sales increase by stating, "The sales of the premium brand Genesis and SUVs increased, and favorable exchange rates, low inventory levels, and reduced incentives to dealers in key markets worked together. This offset the negative impacts of semiconductor shortages and rising raw material prices."

Earlier, Hyundai Motor Group announced during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Korea that it would invest over 10 billion USD in the U.S. by 2025. In particular, it plans to invest 5.5 billion USD in the state of Georgia to establish electric vehicle and battery production facilities.

Meanwhile, Tesla is preparing to raise prices on all its electric vehicle models in the U.S. This will be the fourth price increase this year, and Tesla’s cheapest model is expected to rise by about 10,000 USD (approximately 13 million KRW) compared to last year.

In this context, some analysts predict that Volkswagen, which owns brands such as Porsche and Bentley, will surpass Tesla’s global electric vehicle sales by 2024, indicating that maintaining Tesla’s position in the electric vehicle market will not be easy.

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