Hyundai Motor Group came in second after Tesla in the first three quarters of this year as the number of electric vehicle (EV) registrations in the United States surged despite concerns over slowing demand for EVs.
According to a report by Automotive News Nov. 12, a U.S. automotive publication, the number of electric vehicles registered in the United States in the first three quarters (January through September) of this year grew by 61 percent to 852,904 units from the same period of 2022.
In percentages of total vehicle registrations, EVs jumped by 2.2 percentage points from 5.2 percent to 7.4 percent.
By manufacturer, Tesla topped the list with a 57.4 percent share. Registrations of Tesla EVs hit 489,000.
Tesla was followed by Chevrolet (50,000 units and 5.9 percent), Ford (47,000 and 5.5 percent), Hyundai (41,000 and 4.8 percent), BMW (31,000 and 3.7 percent), Livian (30,000 and 3.5 percent), Mercedes-Benz (27,000 and 3.2 percent), Volkswagen (27,000 and 3.2 percent), and Kia (23,000 and 2.7 percent).
If you combine No. 4 Hyundai and No. 9 Kia, their combined registrations and share are 64,000 and 7.5 percent, respectively, empowering Hyundai Motor Group to jump to second place behind Tesla. Hyundai Motor Group owns the two Korean carmakers.
Hyundai Motor Group fared well despite the aftermath of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which subsidizes only North American-made EVs, analysts say.
Electric vehicles that Hyundai and Kia sell in the United States are entirely produced at factories in Korea and exported, making them ineligible for subsidies under the IRA’s EV subsidy provisions.
However, Hyundai and Kia dialed up the proportion of its commercial EV lease sales eligible for subsidies under the IRA. As a result, its EV sales have remained relatively strong since the IRA’s implementation.
As a result, Hyundai-Kia has been able to account for a large share of the U.S. EV market among non-U.S. brands that do not receive subsidies.
Automotive News also analyzed that Hyundai and other non-U.S. brands, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, were growing rapidly as Tesla’s share of the U.S. EV market continued to decline.
In the first nine months of this year, Tesla’s share of total EV registrations in America dropped by a whopping 8 percentage points to 57.4 percent from 65.4 percent in the same period of 2022, while Hyundai’s share climbed by 0.8 percentage points to 4.8 percent from 4 percent.