Last summer, as many rivals were backing off their electric vehicle plans as sales proved to be growing less quickly than expected, Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group was singing a different tune. “We’re gonna keep our foot on the accelerator” is what Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker told me in an interview. Now that 2024’s sales data is in, it certainly seems like that push paid off.
According to the latest data from Cox Automotive’s Kelly Blue Book, the combined sales of the three Hyundai Motor Group brands—Hyundai, Kia and Genesis—sent the conglomerate to the coveted no. 2 spot behind Tesla in U.S. EV sales in 2024.
This was a tight sales race that we had been following closely last year, especially as the race increasingly came down to General Motors and the Hyundai group. In the end, Hyundai’s brands pulled ahead with a collective 124,065 fully electric sales. That number does not count hybrid or plug-in hybrid sales, where the Korean brands are also seeing strong growth.
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By comparison, GM’s brands that sell EVs in the U.S.—Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and the BrightDrop van division that just got merged into Chevy—moved 114,426 EVs in 2024. As several people pointed out, had GM continued Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV production until the new one made its debut this year, it would have probably far exceeded Hyundai, but that’s the game.
This also made both GM and Hyundai the first automakers since Tesla to ever sell 100,000 or more EVs in the U.S. Ford came awfully close, with the F-150 Lightning, E-Transit van and Mustang Mach-E netting 97,865 EV sales.
Still, all of these companies were a very distant second, third or fourth to Tesla, which despite seeing a decline in sales still ended 2024 with a projected 633,762 EVs sold in America. For Hyundai, the Ioniq 5 led the way in sales, but the Mach-E kept its crown as America’s best-selling non-Tesla EV yet again. If the updated Telsa Model Y makes its debut here this year as expected, it could change the equation even more.
As we’ve noted previously, despite widespread media reports of the EV market crashing, 2024 was another record year for electric sales in America. The problem is that sales have not taken off as quickly as the auto industry once projected. Nearly all of them still struggle with ramping up EV production, battery costs, unclear issues around tariffs and sourcing materials from China and our still-inadequate charging infrastructure. But EVs remain the fastest-growing new car segment and made up 8% of total new sales in 2024; this year, one in four new cars sold are expected to be electrified in some way, as hybrids or EVs.
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Now, the question is this: which automaker can maintain this momentum into 2025? As I said above, the updated Model Y should be able to do what the now-sagging Cybertruck could not, although its popularity may prove to be the ultimate barometer about how people feel about Elon Musk these days. GM has several new electric Cadillac models set to debut. And if it can make good on releasing the 2026 Chevy Bolt by the end of this year, and it’s priced well, it could seriously move the needle in GM’s favor.
But Hyundai’s going bigger and bolder in 2025 as well. There’s the new 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is equipped with a Tesla-style plug and now even comes with a ChargePoint charger standard. It’s built in the U.S. as well, and while it does not yet qualify for EV tax credits, it is expected to—provided that system survives the incoming Trump administration. There’s also the U.S.-built Ioniq 9 three-row SUV and updated Kia EV6, both also sporting Tesla-style plugs, and some updated new Genesis EVs as well. The Kia EV3 is still somewhat TBD on its U.S. release date, unfortunately, but if that’s priced well here it too should be a big driver of volume.
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Finally, it’s worth noting that Hyundai’s brands moved a lot of electric cars with extremely generous lease deals. Whether it can keep those going, especially if tax credits go away, remains to be seen. But either way, 2025 kicks off with Hyundai as the non-Tesla automaker to beat in 2025. We’ll see who’s got what it takes as the year goes on.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
