Invest1 publisher2 min readPublished
Tesla and BYD took 44% of Korea's EV growth in the first seven months
KAMA's seven-month count of 237,032 registrations is already past all of last year, but Tesla's 66,376 sales in Korea now put Hyundai third in EVs in its own home market, with Kia still ahead on 85,444.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- KAMA counted 237,032 new EV registrations in South Korea through July, already past the full-year total it reports for last year, and 103% above the 116,608 registered in the same seven months of the prior year.
- The Tesla Model Y was Korea's best-selling EV at 52,064 units, more than double the second-placed Kia EV3 at 22,898, and every Model Y sold in Korea is built at Tesla's Shanghai plant.
- Tesla sold 66,376 vehicles in Korea through July, up 150% from 26,569, which put it above Hyundai Motor's 45,881 EVs and below Kia's 85,444.
- BYD's Korean sales rose 820.2% from 1,578 units a year earlier, taking it to fourth among imported brands behind Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
- Eight of the ten best-selling imported EV models in Korea in July were built in China, with Tesla holding first through third and BYD fourth through sixth.
Compiled by The InvestorSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- decision A purchase subsidy written around domestic assembly would have to exclude the country's best-selling EV, because every Model Y registered in Korea comes off the Shanghai line.
- exposure Hyundai Motor is now third in EVs in its home market, below both Kia and an importer, so its Korean electrification volumes are set by a competitor's shipping schedule.
- contradiction The report carries two different totals for last year, 210,177 and 220,177, so the headline claim that seven months has beaten a full year is true by either 16,855 units or 26,855.
- precedent Zeekr starts full-scale 7X sales in October with Xpeng and Chery preparing entries, so the share question gets retested before this year's registration count closes.
The increase over the same seven months last year is 120,424 registrations, and Tesla supplied 39,807 of it [1][2]. BYD's 820.2% gain off a base of 1,578 units implies about 14,500 cars this year, an increase close to 12,900 [3]. Together the two brands account for 44% of the growth [4].
Hyundai and Kia still hold the majority. Their two EV totals come to 131,325, which is 55.4% of registrations, against 28.0% for Tesla [5][6]. Roughly four in five Teslas sold in Korea this year was a Model Y [11].
Forecasts cited in the report put the full year in the mid- to high-300,000 range if the current pace holds [6]. The pace through July is 33,862 registrations a month, which annualizes near 406,000 [7]. Those forecasts therefore assume the second half slows.
The report gives last year's full-year figure twice, as 210,177 and as 220,177 [3][4]. Only the second fits the 50.1% rebound it reports from 146,734 in 2024, since 146,734 times 1.501 is 220,248 [5][8]. On that reading, seven months of this year is ahead of all of last year by 16,855 units, not 26,855 [8].
Six Chinese automakers sold 5.504 million of the 8.847 million EVs and plug-in hybrids delivered worldwide in the first half, or 62.2% [17][18][9]. Battery-electric sales alone were 6.289 million, up 10.0%, and 14.7% of 42.771 million new vehicles [19]. Subtracting one count from the other leaves 2.558 million plug-in hybrids against 2.906 million implied for the prior year by the two growth rates, a decline of 12% if both counts cover the same market [10]. Europe grew 35.1% and emerging markets 74.8%, while the United States fell 25.0% and China 6.1% [20]. Korea's 103% was faster than any of them [2].
Seoul Economic Daily reports that the rebound lends weight to calls for Korean automakers to sharpen their competitiveness and for the government to step up policy support for domestically made EVs [22]. The report does not say who is making those calls.
Chinese-built models may keep taking the import ranking, given where July's order already sits [15]. Or Tesla holds its new level without adding to it [7], and the added units revert to Kia and Hyundai. Or the market reaches 400,000 and volumes rise for everyone while the share table moves anyway. I would take the first, and the second half would have to hand most of the added registrations to Kia's EV3 and Hyundai's line before I changed that [12][13].
What to watch
- KAMA's August and September counts, the first test of whether the second half slows the way forecasters assume.
- Whether Kia's EV3 and Hyundai's EV line capture most of the added registrations in the second half.
- A reported BYD unit total for Korea, since the 820.2% figure only implies a number.