Hyundai’s BEV Sales Grow 47% Globally – CleanTechnica

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Hyundai is involved in all sectors of the auto industry. It’s still selling millions of gas-powered cars a year, it’s pushing hydrogen-fueled cars, and it has long been seen as one of the better developers of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). We really can’t celebrate the first two, but it is good to see that Hyundai continues on path #3 in a good way.

In a quarterly report published today, Hyundai Motor Company highlighted that its global sales grew 4.8% in the 3rd quarter, but that was really all about growth of its “electrified” vehicles. Their sales rose 37%. But it gets even better — BEV sales rose 47%!

BEVs reached 87,737 sales. Their percentage growth was only beaten by fuel cell electric vehicles (161%), but those are still at a very small volume of course (3,828 sales in the quarter).

BEVs were well above plugin hybrids (PHEVs), which rose 26% to 11,301 sales. Hyundai’s largest “electrified” powertrain was conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), which rose 32% to 158,629 sales.

It’s unfortunate to see BEVs still well below the sales of fossil-fueled vehicles (conventional hybrids included), but it’s great to see their strong growth and the fact that their sales volume has reached more than 50% the volume of Hyundai’s hybrid vehicle sales.

Overall, the company is proud that “electrified vehicles now represent 25% of total global retail sales — meaning more than one in four Hyundai vehicles sold globally is electrified, up from 19% just one year ago.” BEVs, which I’m sure is what most of us care about, accounted for 8.47% of Hyundai’s sales in the 3rd quarter.

Admittedly, Hyundai’s BEV sales were boosted a bit by the EV sales rush in the United States from the US tax credit for EVs expiring. Here’s what the company has to say about its North American success:

“North America’s performance shows that manufacturing localization delivers results. The region achieved 314,964 retail units in Q3, up 13.2%, but the electrified vehicle story is even more compelling: 94,786  electrified units (30.1% of regional sales), up 52.6% year-over-year.

“Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia continues to ramp up IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 9 production. These are American-made electric vehicles that contributed to 34,244 EV sales, up 52.0%. Palisade Hybrids, Santa Fe Hybrids, and Tucson Hybrids drove 58,774 hybrid sales, up 51.5%.

“North America now has the highest electrified growth rate of any major Hyundai region, with nearly one-third of all vehicles sold carrying an electrified powertrain. This validates the company’s U.S. investment strategy: build locally, customize to local preferences, and grow with the market.”

So, it’s not just just BEVs that grew strongly for the brand. Though, not stated by Hyundai is that its BEV sales were up 103.1% in the US, driven especially by the IONIQ 5 (up 90% to 21,999 sales) and the IONIQ 9 (which was not on sale yet in the 3rd quarter of 2024 and reached 3,164 sales in the 3rd quarter of 2025) — but even the IONIQ 6 was up 29% to 2,810 sales.

Naturally, outside of North America, Europe is a big market for Hyundai’s EV sales. “Europe continues its journey toward electrification leadership with 149,757 retail units in Q3, up 3.2%, but more significantly, 71,040 units (47.4% of regional sales) are now electrified, up 28.0 year-over-year,” the company writes. “Europe’s 47.4% electrified penetration rate is a preview of Hyundai’s future globally, where the company targets 60% electrified sales (BEV, HEV, PHEV, EREV, FCEV) by 2030.” In my opinion, that’s still a rather weak target and I do still think Hyundai isn’t aggressive enough with full electrification. But maybe this is the best it can do.

Regarding actual electric vehicles, Hyundai adds: “The INSTER, named 2025 World Electric Vehicle of the Year, is proving that affordable, practical EVs can succeed in Europe’s competitive market. The IONIQ family continues winning customers from legacy European brands. And the 30,641 EV sales, up 60.1%, demonstrate that when you offer award-winning products at competitive prices, customers respond regardless of market conditions.” That 30,641 total is more than 20% of Hyundai’s European sales, but that’s basically the norm in Europe.

At the end of the day, 47% growth is quite considerable growth. So, kudos to Hyundai. The 4th quarter will likely be tougher, but hopefully the company can surprise us.