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Hyundai, Kia's eco-friendly car exports rise 3 % last year
By The Korea Times - Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia said Tuesday their combined exports of environmentally friendly vehicles climbed 3 percent in 2024 from a year earlier despite an economic slowdown.
Hyundai and Kia shipped a total of 707,853 eco-friendly cars last year, up from 687,420 units a year ago, Hyundai Motor Group said in a press release.
Gasoline hybrid models accounted for 56 percent of the eco-friendly car shipments, offsetting a slowing demand for electric vehicle (EV) models, it said.
To ride out the EV slowdown, the carmakers said they will strengthen their product lineups by adding more fuel-efficient gasoline hybrid models.
They also plan to improve their product mix, and adjust vehicle production and inventories in the face of high interest rates, low growth, spread of protectionism and tougher competition with rivals this year.
Hyundai and Kia together form the world's third-largest automotive group by sales after Toyota Motor and Volkswagen AG.
Their overall exports slightly fell to 2,180,698 units worth $53.36 billion last year from 2,216,231 vehicles worth $54.39 billion in 2023, the release said.
Seven out of 10 exported models were sport utility vehicles (SUVs), and the best-selling model was the Avante compact, which is sold as Elantra overseas.
Nearly 56 percent of the shipments went to North American markets, with 19 percent shipped to Europe and the remainder to other markets. (Yonhap)
Source: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2025/01/419_390317.html
