Most sold electric vehicle models South Korea 2022

Hyundai's Ioniq 5 was the bestselling electric vehicle in South Korea in 2022, recording approximately 27.4 thousand unit sales. Not only was it the leading model in the electric vehicle market, it also featured in the company’s top ten most-sold cars in the same year. Regarding the domestic automotive industry, Hyundai Motor Company owned a significant share of the car manufacturing market as the leading car manufacturer in South Korea.

Needing to respond to environmental issues

The transportation industry continued to increase its share of air pollution globally due to the high level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Countries with high economic growth rates seem to be especially concerned about this issue. On a global level, South Korea’s CO2 emissions increased by roughly 130 percent within the last 30 years, making it the country with the third-largest growth rate. Although the current rise of environmentally-friendly cars showed greater awareness among domestic consumers, the registered number of automobiles was dominated by vehicles with gas or diesel engines.

 Attempting to overcome challenges

According to a prior survey about leading environmental issues, respondents were mostly concerned about high air pollution. Despite the awareness of the negative consequences caused by the automobile sector, a transition to more environmentally-friendly cars proved far more difficult due to the high costs of electric vehicles and the lack of charging stations. In response, the South Korean government announced the Green Car initiative and the Hydrogen Economy Roadmap to solve this problem. In addition to government subsidies for selected models like Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, the government planned to install more charging stations and focus the production of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and full cells for power generation.