Korean Automakers See Surge in Hybrid Vehicle Sales as EV Market Stagnates

Automakers that made bets on hybrid cars are seeing great sales compared to the EV market which appears to have plateaued until battery technology and charging infrastructure makes significant advancements:

Exports of hybrid cars produced domestically this year are close to the highest ever, the report showed.

According to the Korea Automobile Mobility Industry Association (KAMA) on the 16th, a total of 279,165 hybrid cars were exported from January to August this year by domestic automakers such as Hyundai Motor, Kia, GM Korea, and KG Mobility. This is an increase of 32.5% from 216,629 units in the same period last year, the highest performance in the January-August period ever. If the current trend continues until the end of the year, it is expected to exceed the annual export volume of 313,071 hybrid vehicles recorded last year.

Exports of hybrid vehicles have been steadily increasing over the past five years. It reached 124,503 units in 2020 and surpassed 300,000 units for the first time last year.

Among eco-friendly cars, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) have been suffering from sluggish export performance this year, but hybrid vehicles are the only ones with good performance. Amid the prolonged phenomenon of electric vehicle catharsis (temporary slowdown in demand), its value as a substitute seems to be a significant impact. Electric vehicle exports from January to August this year were 179,203 units, down 23.2% from 233,276 units in the same period last year. PHEV exports also fell 30.6% year-on-year to 34,893 units.

Maeil Business Newspaper

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