Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and Kia (000270.KS) posted growth in the low-20% range in the global electric vehicle market, narrowing their gap with China's Changan Automobile, data showed.
According to market research firm SNE Research on Monday, Hyundai Motor and Kia delivered 303,000 EVs, including plug-in hybrids, from January to May this year, up 24.3% from the same period last year. Total global sales rose 3.5% to 7.754 million units.
Hyundai Motor and Kia held their seventh-place group ranking while increasing their market share from 3.3% to 3.9%. Their gap with sixth-place Changan Automobile also narrowed from 78,000 units to 27,000 units. "Hyundai Motor Group recorded the highest growth rate among the top automaker groups, ranking first through seventh," SNE Research said. "A recovery in the European market and expansion in Asian markets outside China drove the improvement in results."
BYD, China's largest EV maker, retained first place with 1.157 million units. However, its sales fell 21.5% from last year, and its market share dropped from 19.7% to 14.9%.
Second-ranked Geely Automobile posted 779,000 units, down 3.9%, followed by Tesla (601,000 units), Volkswagen (542,000 units) and SAIC Motor (458,000 units).
Chinese EV startup Leapmotor showed the strongest growth, with sales rising 51.4% from last year to 236,000 units.
"The growth of companies heavily dependent on the Chinese domestic market, such as BYD and Geely, has slowed, but companies actively expanding into overseas markets—including Tesla, Hyundai Motor and Kia, Chery and Leapmotor—recorded relatively solid results," SNE Research said.
By region, China maintained its position as the largest market at 4.163 million units, but this was down 10.4% from last year, with its share falling from 62.0% to 53.7%. Europe rose 27.5% to 1.988 million units, Asia excluding China surged 75.0% to 747,000 units, and North America fell 27.6% to 517,000 units.
