Kia and Hyundai – “Hold my Beer.”
Hyundai Motor America reported 70,079 vehicle sales in the United States in November (up 10.7% year-over-year), which is the 16th month of consecutive growth. So far this year, the brand sold 726,031 vehicles, over 11% more than a year ago. And there’s even better news for the Korean giant on the electric front.
Last month, sales of the Hyundai E-GMP-based all-electric cars—Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6—amounted to 2,372 and 1,386 respectively, for a total of 3,758. That’s a 216% increase year-over-year. The share of E-GMP BEVs out of Hyundai’s total volume improved to 5.4%, compared to 1.9% a year ago.
On top of that comes sales of Hyundai Kona Electric—for which numbers are not available because it’s counted together with the internal combustion engine Kona—was recently rated at 261 miles of EPA Combined range.
Hyundai achieved its best-ever November sales as demand for its fully electric vehicles continues rising. Sales were led by the Hyundai IONIQ 5, up 99% over last year.
For the 16th straight month, Hyundai’s total sales grew in November. Despite claims the EV market is cooling, the South Korean brand continues to see rising demand.
Watch out for the hype about percent growth, which can seem impressive when the starting numbers are low (e.g. going from selling 2 to selling 4 is 100% growth!).
That said, it looks like Hyundai and Kia are “lighting the solid rocket boosters”* on EVs.
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*One investor’s analogy for full commitment to a project: You can’t turn off a solid fuel rocket once you’ve started it.
There’s a growing number of EV brands and models. It’s easy to pick out a couple that are gaining favor and selling well. 3882 auto dealers just sent a letter to president Biden saying that EVs are piling up on their lots. I watch a lot of pro and anti EV videos on YouTube. My impression is that they are headed for a slowdown.
“There’s a growing number of EV brands and models. It’s easy to pick out a couple that are gaining favor and selling well.” This is true, which is why you have to look at overall numbers and learn why some EV models sell better than others (price? size? low incentive for salespeople?) The US has large regions where people drive longer distances and have range anxiety or have insufficient charging options, for example.
Note that the US car-selling model is different from the rest of the world: The local car dealerships are owned independently of the major automakers and make their money through negotiated sales, financing contracts and after-sales service. Because so much of their income comes from service, many auto dealers don’t like BEVs because they don’t need oil changes or tuneups or brake replacements.
Meanwhile, EV uptake is higher in other countries (China, northern European countries) where people are given more choices than high-margin SUVs and pickupts that American salespeople like to push.