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A Hyundai Ioniq Electric vehicle. (provided by Hyundai Motors)

Yearly sales of electric cars in the South Korean automobile market have surpassed 10,000 for the first time. Sales figures from each of the automakers reviewed on Nov. 13 show that a total of 10,075 electric cars have been sold in the country between January and October of this year.

The electric car with the highest sales is the Hyundai Ioniq Electric – with 6,203 models sold this year, the vehicle holds a commanding share of the market, at 62%. Coming in second and third, both with more than 1,000 units sold, were the Renault Samsung SM3 ZE and the Kia Soul EV, which were followed by the Chevrolet Bolt EV (457), the Renault Twizy (259), the BMW i3 (153), the Kia Ray EV (38), the Tesla Model S (54 from January to September) and the Nissan Leaf (47). Thus far, the domestic electric car market had been dominated by Hyundai, Kia and Renault Samsung, but the emergence of the Chevrolet Bolt is heating up the competition.

The domestic electric car market is experiencing a rapid growth trend. The total number of registered vehicles topped 10,000 last year and then 20,000 this year. But there’s still a long way to go before the electric car market achieves mass distribution. While the market has been growing each year, it still accounts for a tiny 0.5% of total automobile sales. In sales volume, South Korea is far behind China (150,000 units in 2015) and the US (70,000).

With both Hyundai and Kia slated to release new electric models next year – the Kia Niro and an electric version of the Hyundai Kona subcompact SUV – further growth is expected for the electric car market. Renault Samsung will soon be releasing the 2018 version of the SM3 ZE with an extended range, while BMW and Nissan will be unveiling next-generation models of the i3 and Leaf, respectively.

By Hong Dae-seon, staff reporter

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