Bolt EV Nabs First Place in Imported EV Sales in April

The Bolt EV became the best-selling imported electric vehicle (EV) in April by selling 148 units, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA). The Bolt EV was followed by the Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 4MATIC (137 units) and Porsche's first pure electric sports car Taycan 4S (119 units).

Tesla fell to fourth place with 76 units. In March, the company sold 3,194 units, recapturing the No. 1 spot that it lost to Porsche in the January-February period of the year. But its inventory was sold out in a month. Tesla's April sales were smaller than Hyundai's first electric vehicle IONIQ 5, which was delivered to customers for the first time in April.

Since March, the Korean government's payment of purchasing subsidies has been in full swing, continuing to inject vitality into the imported electric vehicle market of Korea. The market logged total sales of 510 units (excluding Tesla sales) in April, up 51.3 percent from a year earlier. The cumulative sales in the January-April period also swelled 15.5 percent from the same period of 2020.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. continued to enjoy strong sales of electric vehicles. The two Korean automakers sold a combined 3,433 electric vehicles (Hyundai Motor Company's 2,086 units and Kia Corp.'s 1,347 units) in April. The sales figure was a 21.9 percent increase compared to the same month of 2020. By model, sales of the flagship models Kona Electric and Niro EV contracted 67.8 percent (397 units) and 2.5 percent (392 units), respectively, but sales of one-ton trucks Potter II Electric and Bongo III EV surged 144.2 percent (1,575 units) and 158.8 percent (955 units).