Hyundai Motor Group surpasses 4 million eco-friendly vehicle sales

Hyundai Motor Co.’s Kona [Photo provided by Hyundai Motor]

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group has sold more than 4 million eco-friendly vehicles worldwide since the launch of the Hyundai Avante Hybrid in June 2009, according to industry sources on Monday.

Hyundai Motor Group’s official tally was 3.97 million units as of March but given that the number of eco-friendly vehicles sold per month is around 100,000, it is a foregone conclusion that the 4 million mark was hit last month. Eco-friendly vehicles include hybrid, electric and hydrogen vehicles.

Hyundai Motor Group began selling eco-friendly vehicles with the liquefied petroleum gas-fueled Avante LPi Hybrid, which was first released in 2009. The automotive group began exporting the Sonata Hybrid in May 2011, raising awareness of its eco-friendly vehicle technology.

Hyundai Motor Group’s cumulative sales of hybrid vehicles reached 30,000 units in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012. Since then, Hyundai has sold more hybrid vehicles overseas than domestically. Last year, 455,707 units were sold overseas, with 183,181 units sold domestically.

In 2016, there was a quantum jump in Hyundai Motor Group’s hybrid vehicle sales with annual sales volume exceeding 100,000 units for the first time. Launched in 2016, the Kia Niro is by far the best-selling eco-friendly car of all time. As of March this year, 662,278 units of the Niro has sold to date. The Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, which was launched in October 2020, is in second place with 309,075 units.

Hyundai Motor Group’s cumulative sales of hybrids totaled 2.8 million units as of March and cumulative sales of electric vehicles totaled 1.06 million units. The best-selling EV model during this period was the Hyundai Motor Co.’s Kona with 277,073 units. The Kona sold 34,274 units in Korea and 242,799 units overseas. It was followed by Kia Corp.’s Niro EV with 214,170 units, the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and the EV6. In addition, the group’s hydrogen-electric vehicles such as Hyundai Motor’s NEXO sold more than 35,000 units.