South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor‘s HYMTF North American unit reported a year-on-year jump in electric vehicle sales for the first quarter of 2024, overtaking legacy automakers Ford and General Motors in the process.
What Happened: Hyundai Motor America reported total sales of 184,804 vehicles for the first quarter, marking a jump of merely 0.2%. However, within the electrified segment, the company witnessed a 62% jump, thanks to the sales growth of its Ioniq and Kona models.
Hyundai sells three all-electric vehicles in the U.S., namely the Ioniq 5 SUV, the Ioniq 6 sedan, and the Kona subcompact SUV.
The company sold 6,822 of its Ioniq 5 SUV in the quarter, marking a year-on-year jump of 18%. The Ioniq 6 sedan witnessed a bump in sales of 1,542% to 3,646 units and the Kona subcompact SUV a 20% jump to 23,054 units.
Low-cost Spurs Sales: Hyundai’s best-seller Kona starts at $24,250 and the Ioniq 5 at $41,800. This places both vehicles at a lower price point than Tesla’s best-selling Model Y SUV which currently starts at $44,990. Ford’s sole EV SUV Mustang Mach-E too has a starting price of about $40,000.
Ford sold a total of 20,223 pure electric vehicles in the first quarter, lagging severely behind Hyundai’s all-electric sales of 33,522 units. General Motors, the country’s best-selling automaker, sold only 16,425 EVs in the quarter.
Tesla, meanwhile, does not segment its reporting by geography or individual models. However, the company saw its cumulative Model Y and 3 sales drop 11.5% year-on-year across the globe in the first quarter.
Following the gloomy delivery report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on X that the quarter was "tough" for everyone, referring to Chinese EV giant BYD‘s 43% quarter-on-quarter drop in EV sales. However, the harsh conditions seem to have been successfully evaded by Asian players including Hyundai and Toyota.
Toyota sold 206,850 electrified vehicles (hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery-electric) in the U.S. during the quarter, thanks to its robust hybrid offerings.
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