Hyundai & Kia Prove Me Right? Fall to China in Western Europe

I’ve said it for a decade — Hyundai and Kia develop great electric vehicles, but they don’t try hard enough to produce them at high volumes and market them aggressively. I’m by far from the only one saying this. Going back to the Kia Soul EV and Hyundai Ioniq (which came in BEV, PHEV, and conventional hybrid variants), EV followers in Europe and the US have been impressed with Hyundai and Kia’s EV development, efficiency, and specs, but disappointed by their apparent lack of interest in selling these at very high volumes.

On the other hand, Chinese EV companies have aggressively jacked up production volumes, cut costs, and increased sales. I recently noted that BYD’s sales were up 207% in October. XPENG, Zeekr, Leapmotor, and others are growing their sales too.

But here’s the shocker: Chinese automakers sold more vehicles than South Korean automakers in Western Europe (including the UK) in September. Wow. I did not see that coming. I know Hyundai and Kia don’t have nearly the presence in Europe that they do in the US, but still….

If only Hyundai and Kia had put as much effort into selling electric vehicles as BYD and other Chinese automakers have.