This undated picture provided by Hyundai Motor shows the company's Ioniq 5 N EV model. Yonhap The combined market share of electric vehicles produced by Korea's Hyundai Motor and Kia in the United States ranked second in the January-July period, outperforming local manufacturers Ford Motor and General Motors, an industry report showed Wednesday. In the report from Automotive News, citing data from auto industry tracker Motor Intelligence, the combined EV market share of the two companies, along with Hyundai's independent luxury brand Genesis, in the U.S. amounted to 10 percent during the first seven months of the year. The market shares for local giants Ford and General Motors came to 7.4 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively, during the cited period. Tesla took the lead, with 49.7 percent. Hyundai's flagship electric vehicles, the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, drove the strong performance for the Korean automaker in the U.S. market. In July, sales of the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 increased by 25 percent and 54 percent, respectively, compared with the same month last year. Kia's EV9 SUV also outperformed competitors, such as the Toyota bZ4X, the Volkswagen ID.4 and Tesla's Model S, in the U.S. during the first half of the year. Local automotive media outlets have praised Hyundai and Kia's strong performance in the U.S. EV market. Media outlet InsideEVs lauded Hyundai Motor Group as having continued to press its EV advantage by "launching more affordable and desirable EVs as its competitors roll back their plans." "Vehicles like the Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N have few (if any) direct competitors yet, and Hyundai's taking advantage of being the only game in town," the outlet said. (Yonhap)
