Hyundai Motor Company’s global vehicle sales, including the Hyundai and Genesis brands, were down more than 6% year-over-year in June. The end result of 351,516 sales dragged first-half sales about 0.9% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, despite strong U.S. sales, Hyundai’s EV game is down by double digits globally.
It’s a challenging time for the South Korean manufacturer, which noted a significant decrease in all-electric and plug-in hybrid car sales. June was the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year decline. This is despite the global EV market expanding, albeit unevenly and hampered by things like high interest rates and tough competition from Chinese brands in certain markets.
Hyundai EV sales decreased by 30% in H1 2024
All major Hyundai electric cars noted a decrease in sales during the first half of the year. The manufacturer intends to boost its results with the upcoming affordable Inster (aka Casper EV) model.
Last month, Hyundai and Genesis plug-in cars’ combined wholesale shipments, which are closely related to production, amounted to 21,028, down 34% year-over-year. That figure includes retail sales in South Korea plus overseas sales, based on wholesales at the manufacturer level. (Both are unaudited and preliminary.) We estimate that the volume represents about 6.0% of the automaker’s total sales volume compared to 8.5% a year ago.
The wholesale volume of all-electric cars decreased by 34% to 17,217, including 16,193 Hyundai, down 34% year-over-year, and 1,024 Genesis, down 33% year-over-year. The company reports that its global all-electric car sales exceeded 18,000, which was slightly higher than the wholesales.
Meanwhile, plug-in hybrid car volume decreased at a similar rate as all-electric car volume. It amounted to 3,811 and was down 34% year-over-year. Hydrogen fuel cell sales have been down for 15 straight months and for two months do not include any exports.
Wholesale plug-in car sales last month (YOY change):
- BEVs: 17,217 (down 34%) and 4.9% share
Hyundai BEVs: 16,193 (down 34%)
Genesis BEVs: 1,024 (down 33%) - PHEVs (Hyundai): 3,811 (down 34%) and 1.1% share
- Total plug-ins: 21,028 (down 34%) and 6% share
- FCVs (Hyundai): 294 (down 5%) and 0.1% share
So far this year, the plug-in electric car wholesale shipments amounted to 122,120, down 30% year-over-year.
Wholesale plug-in car sales year-to-date (YOY change):
- BEVs: 102,182 (down 30%) and 5% share
Hyundai BEVs: 96,742 (down 28%)
Genesis BEVs: 5,440 (down 53%) - PHEVs (Hyundai): 19,938 (down 30%) and 1% share
- Total plug-ins: 122,120 (down 30%) and 5.9% share
- FCVs (Hyundai): 1,472 (down 53%) and 0.1% share
For reference, in 2023, plug-in electric car wholesale shipments exceeded 309,000 (up 29% compared to 2022). All-electric car volume almost reached 260,000, up 33% year-over-year, accounting for 6.2% of the total volume.
Interestingly, in the U.S., Hyundai increased all-electric car sales during the first half of 2024 by 52% year-over-year.
Hyundai brand
In June, wholesale shipments of the E-GMP-based models, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5, performance-oriented Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Genesis GV60, decreased by 30% year-over-year to 11,572. This is the tenth month of year-over-year decline in a row.
As it turns out, all top-selling all-electric Hyundai models—the Ioniq 5, Kona Electric and the Ioniq 6—were down in the first half of the year. In the case of the Ioniq 6, the drop was the most significant at 62% year-over-year in the first half of the year.
In the not-too-distant future, Hyundai intends to launch an all-new, affordable electric model—the Hyundai Inster (in South Korea known as Casper EV). The new A-segment sub-compact EV was unveiled at the 2024 Busan International Mobility Show and is expected to boost the company’s EV results.
Hyundai already produces a few units of Inster/Casper EV a month, ahead of the model ramp-up. We also noticed an all-new “Ioniq New Car” in the stats, which noted three first units. It might be the upcoming large SUV from Hyundai, but we are not sure.
Here are the top models ranked by wholesale shipments last month and YTD (YOY change):
- E-GMP BEVs: 11,572 (down 34%) and 70,649 YTD (down 30%)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5: 8,069 (down 21%) and 50,314 YTD (down 16%)
- Hyundai Kona Electric: 5,029 (down 36%) and 28,582 YTD (down 27%)
- Hyundai Ioniq 6: 2,698 (down 58%) and 13,311 YTD (down 62%)
The hydrogen fuel cell model, Hyundai Nexo, sold 294 units last month, down 4% year over year. So far this year, sales have decreased by 50% year over year to 1,463.
Genesis
The electrification of the Genesis brand continued to disappoint globally. The wholesale shipments in June amounted to 1,024 units, down 33% year-over-year. The brand’s total year-to-date was 5,440 units, down 53% year-over-year.
