Apparently, South Korea doesn’t realize that EV sales are declining. Kia just set a new EV sales record, posting 29,392 units sold in the first half of 2024. It’s the best half-year for EVs in the company’s history. Hyundai isn’t slowing down either. The Ioniq 5 just had its best-ever June sales, and the Ioniq 6 is up 113 percent year-over-year.
Let’s start with Kia. The EV6 is Kia’s EV champion, with 10,941 units sold so far this year. Overall, the EV6 is up 31.3 percent, and the EV9 isn’t far behind. We don’t have the percentage for the SUV since it wasn’t sold last year, but 9,671 units have been sold through the first half of 2024. As for the Niro, Kia doesn’t separate EV sales from hybrid sales, but basic math tells us that 8,780 Niro EVs should be the right number.
Meanwhile at Hyundai, the Ioniq 5 is having a strong year. June was a record-breaking month for the hot hatchback, with sales of 3,755 units. Overall, the car is up 37 percent year-over-year with total sales of 18,728 units—nearly beating the EV9 and EV6 combined. The Ioniq 6 is also up year-over-year, with sales of 6,912 units.
However, it’s not all good news. Despite a significant increase throughout the first half of 2024, Ioniq 6 sales fell slightly in June with only 914 units sold. Overall, Hyundai’s vehicle sales rose only 2.2 percent, but Kia suffered a slight loss with a 2.0 percent decline. Furthermore, in June, Hyundai’s sales fell 2.5 percent and Kia’s sales fell 6.5 percent. Interestingly, both brands will suffer if EV sales are not strong.
The CDK Global cyberattack likely contributed to the slowdown in sales in June. CDK’s software suite for dealers was out of service on June 19, essentially halting service and sales. The software suite was down for the rest of June and is only now back up and running, with a full recovery expected by July 4. The outage is believed to cost dealers nearly $1 billion when all is said and done.
