Hyundai, Kia's Europe sales rise 13 pct in April on EV demand

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Wednesday their sales in Europe rose 13 percent last month from a year earlier, helped by higher demand for their electric vehicles.

Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 88,952 vehicles in Europe in April from 78,586 units a year earlier, Hyundai said, citing data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).

The South Korean carmakers accounted for 10.7 percent of the European passenger car market last month, up 3.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

They fared well as new passenger car registrations in the European Union fell 20 percent to 830,447 units during the same period due to continued supply chain issues.

Sales of their EV models, such as Hyundai's IONIQ 5 and Kia's Niro EV, EV6 and Soul EV boxcar, soared 44 percent on-year to 12,054 last month, Hyundai said.

In the January-April period, the corporate duo's sales jumped 19 percent to 358,197 autos from 300,584 units a year ago.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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