Hyundai Motor's Kona electric vehicle (EV) is likely to be discontinued due to the release of its exclusive electric vehicle, Ioniq 5.
According to industry sources on April 21, Hyundai Motor is expected to begin discontinuation process of Kona EV in the domestic market as demand for Kona EVs decreases due to the release of exclusive electric vehicles. Currently the production for domestic sales of Kona EV has been stopped.
Hyundai recently informed battery makers that it will no longer receive batteries for Kona EV. As a result, battery companies have stopped supplying batteries for the Kona EV.
A Hyundai Motor official said, "The domestic sales volume is in stock and we are not producing any more. We have not decided to stop production yet, but it is expected to be discontinued naturally as the already produced volume is exhausted."
Overseas sales will continue. Hyundai Motor has decided to maintain its export volume as Kona EVs are still in demand in North America and Europe.
Since its launch in 2018, a total of 33,830 Kona EVs have been sold in Korea and 101,574 overseas.
However, sales volume dropped sharply due to a series of fires that caused consumer confidence to fall. Kona EV has caused 16 fire accidents at home and abroad since its launch in the first half of 2018.
Fire accidents occurred more frequently last year than other years and the fact was pointed out in the parliamentary audit, sparking further controversy.
In response, Hyundai Motor updated its battery management system (BMS) mounted on the Kona EV to arbitrarily reduce the battery charge rate to prevent abnormalities such as overheating and overload, and also carried out massive recalls such as replacing all batteries.
Due to this effect, Kona EV's domestic sales in the first quarter of this year stood at 984 units, down 40.0% from 1,639 units in the same period last year.
Overseas sales were 7,428 units, down 17.9 percent from 9,049 units in the same period last year.
In particular, the popularity of derivative electric vehicle models such as the Kona EV fell as Hyundai's exclusive electric vehicle, Ioniq 5, was released.
Hyundai's first exclusive platform electric vehicle, Ioniq 5, has made a new history in the electric vehicle market with 40,000 pre-contracts so far, after setting a new record of 23,760 units on the first day of the pre-contract.
