The Hyundai Motor Group announced it will mass-produce battery electric vehicles at Kia Autoland Slovakia, one of the automaker’s core plants, kicking off its European EV campaign.
Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles are currently built at full-scale production at its EV factory in Indonesia and at a joint facility in South Korea that also produces traditional cars.
However, earlier this year, Hyundai announced it would build its first dedicated EV plant in its home country, responding to rising demand for its zero-emission vehicles globally. Hyundai says it will break ground on the South Korean factory next year, with mass production beginning in 2025.
Meanwhile, soaring demand for zero-emission EVs in the US sparked the South Korean automaker’s interest earlier this year.
Hyundai announced plans to build its first dedicated EV factory in the US in May, with early 2023 as the target to begin construction. However, after landmark climate initiatives were passed, introducing a new set of EV tax credits, Hyundai accelerated its US strategy.
The automaker’s EV models, including the award-winning Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6, qualified before the new set of rules, but strict battery sourcing and assembly requirements would disqualify them at the end of the year.
Hyundai acted fast, starting construction on its $5.5 billion EV manufacturing plant in Bryon County, Georgia, on October 25.
Although the Hyundai Motor Group has tackled its home and swelling US market, the South Korean automaker has not clearly outlined its European strategy until now.
Hyundai IONIQ5 (Source: Hyundai)
Hyundai and Kia EV models coming to Europe
According to a report from Business Korea, Hyundai Motor Group has chosen its Kia Slovakia plant to lead its change into the lucrative European EV market.
Kia Autoland, located in Zilina, Slovakia, is one of Hyundai’s core manufacturing plants that began operations in 2006, reaching 4 million in cumulative production in 2021. The plant began to roll out hybrid vehicles such as the Sportage PHEV in February, but the facility will begin “mass producing” pure battery electric vehicles for Europe starting in 2025.
The report also notes Kia plans to manufacture small- and medium-sized EVs explicitly designed for the European market.
Europe officially banned the sales of new combustion vehicles after 2035 while the EV market continues expanding, so Hyundai’s strategy makes sense.
Hyundai and Kia plan for 100% of their European sales to be electrified models by 2035, in line with the new combustion vehicle ban. In the third quarter of 2022, Hyundai’s EV sales rose 27% to around 52,000, fueled by the release of the Hyundai IONIQ 6 and Genesis GV60, while its IONIQ5 model continues seeing strong demand.
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MAGA protestors surrounded a Tesla store in California with their gas trucks in what has to be the least effective counterprotest ever.
When you need MAGA and Proud Boys to counter-protest for your brand, you know your brand is in trouble.
The ‘Tesla Takedown‘ movement is a grassroots movement that has been organizing peaceful protests at Tesla stores throughout the US.
Their goal is to encourage a boycott of Tesla, which they see as Elon Musk’s personal piggy bank to finance the rise of what they believe is Trump’s authoritarian regime and fascism.
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Every weekend for the past two months, they have been holding growing protests at dozens of Tesla locations across the US.
There have been quite a few altercations with Trump supporters counter-protesting, but we are now starting to see full-fledged counter-protests by MAGA supporters and even far-right neo-fascist groups, like the Proud Boys.
At Tesla’s store in Rocklin, California, MAGA came by the dozens to counter-protest a Tesla protest with a barrage of gasoline trucks in front of the store:
The problem in MAGA’s logic here is that their counter-protests might be just as effective at deterring potential buyers as Tesla Takedown’s protests.
Who wants to go through that to buy a car? Proud Boys members were also reportedly at the event. While there were some interactions between the Tesla protestors and counter-protestors, no significant incidents were reported.
Interestingly, not a single one of these MAGA counter-protestors had a Tesla vehicle. Based on the videos, they all showed up to support Tesla in gasoline trucks.
Electrek’s Take
I’m not gonna lie. I don’t know what timeline we are in right now, but it’s a pretty funny one. A bunch of MAGA climate-deniers and Proud Boys neo-fascists are showing up to “protect” Tesla against left-leaning protestors who see Elon Musk as using Tesla to finance the rise of fascism in the US.
Just a few years ago, I never thought I would write that.
It’s becoming harder for people to argue that Trump is not authoritarian and fascist, as his administration is now openly defying a 9-0 Supreme Court order to help bring back someone that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted they mistakenly deported and is now in a foreign prison.
Defying a Supreme Court order is as authoritarian as it gets, and deporting people into a foreign prison without due process is fascist, giving weight to the Tesla Takedown argument that Musk, by financing Trump’s election, is financing the rise of fascism in the US.
Meanwhile, Musk recently admitted that his DOGE effort is not working. He first claimed he thought that he could cut $2 trillion. He decreased that to $1 trillion last year. Last week, he said that he now believes DOGE can save the US about $150 billion in 2026, when his DOGE mandate ends.
At the same time, Trump is talking about increasing spending and cutting taxes, which will increase the US deficit, which was the whole reason for DOGE.
It looks like Musk destroyed his reputation for nothing.
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Four months after sharing a first look at a new GT shooting brake variant of its all-electric 007 sedan, ZEEKR has officially launched the 7GT in China, with initial deliveries to follow in less than a week. As shown in ZEEKR’s images below, this sporty GT variant was designed with several comfort features and impressive tech, including a fast-charging 800V platform and zippy acceleration.
Our first look at the ZEEKR 007GT, which stands for “Grand Tour” came in early January 2025, when the young Chinese automaker shared three images on its Weibo page, hailing it as its second shooting brake BEV (alongside its flagship 001 model).
From the images, it was easy to tell that the 7GT shooting brake was designed as a sportier hatchback version of ZEEKR’s 007 sedan launched in China over a year ago.
At that time, we didn’t know any performance specs or pricing for the ZEEKR 007GT, but we did learn it would be sold globally and called the 7GT in overseas markets outside of China. ZEEKR CEO and Geely President Andy An said that ZEEKR intended to launch the 007 GT shooting brake in Q2 of 2025.
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Here we are in the early days of Q2, and ZEEKR has made good on its promise, launching the 007GT (7GT) in China. Deliveries are set to begin five days from now. We also have performance specs and starting pricing!
ZEEKR 7GT to begin deliveries in China April 20, 2025
Supercar performance, wagon practicality, shooting brake styling.The EV that does everything.
That’s how ZEEKR described its new 7GT shooting brake in a press release following its official launch in China this evening. The automaker’s latest variant focuses on power, practicality, and luxury implemented within its minimalist “Hidden Energy” design philosophy.
As a BEV sub-brand under the Geely umbrella, the ZEEKR 7GT sits atop its parent company’s 800V SEA architecture. The standard range variant features a 75 kWh pack with LFP cells that delivers up to 650 km (404 miles) CLTC range and can charge from 10% to 80% in an impressive 10.5 minutes on a DC fast charger.
ZEEKR is also launching a long-range version of the 7GT powered by a 100 kWh NMC pack that delivers up to 825 km (513 miles) of all-electric range. The shooting brake is propelled by two silicon carbide-powered electric motors that can accelerate from 0-100 km/hr (0-62 mph) in 2.95 seconds (from a rolling start scenario). Here are some additional specs:
Length: 4,864mm
Width: 1,900mm
Height:1,460mm
Wheelbase: 2,925mm
Trunk storage capacity: 645 liters
Capacity with rear seats folded: 1,737liters
Interior features include NAPPA full-grain leather; all seats have heating, ventilation, and spa-grade massage settings. On the dash, the BEV’s infotainment system is powered by a Qualcomm 8295 chipset.
Per ZEEKR, the 7GT arrives with a sensor suite of dual-Nvidia Orin-X SoC, lidar, high-definition cameras, and millimeter-wave radars to support smart assist ADAS with computing redundancies and enable the automaker’s new G-Pilot H7 autonomous driving capabilities.
Customers who order a ZEEKR 7GT can choose from nine exterior colors and four interior combinations. The 7GT shooting brake starts at RMB 202,900 ($27,615) and will be making its way to customers in China five days from now before expanding to other global markets sometime in the future.
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In the past few weeks, major news outlets have reported that Chinese automotive giant BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles. While it may be true that BYD has usurped Tesla to sell more electric vehicles or generate more revenue, the idea that either is the largest EV seller in the world completely ignores a company that sells more EVs each year than both Tesla and BYD combined.
Those EVs just have half the wheels.
I’m talking, of course, about the real global leader in electric vehicle sales: Yadea, a company that builds electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, outselling by a long shot Tesla and BYD combined.
Of course part of this argument is semantical, and it also depends on how you definite the world’s largest seller. Many recent articles about BYD overtaking Tesla refer to BYD’s 2024 annual revenue, which eclipsed Tesla’s for the same period. To be fair, that feat is even more impressive considering Tesla enjoys a relatively large sales volume in BYD’s domestic market of China, whereas BYD is prevented from selling in Tesla’s domestic market of the US, one of the largest global automotive markets.
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While Yadea can’t compete with overall revenue due to its vehicles being much more affordable, that’s kind of the point. Yadea sells as many EVs in a quarter as Tesla and BYD do in a year, and for much more affordable prices.
In fact, Yadea’s recent announcement of surpassing 100 million cumulative electric two-wheelers sold globally puts both automakers’ figures in perspective. On an annual basis, Yadea consistently sells more than 6-8 million electric scooters, bicycles, and motorcycles, comfortably surpassing the combined annual sales of Tesla and BYD.
Why, then, does the media often ignore Yadea when crowning the king of EV sales? Simply put, there’s still an automotive bias that sees cars as “real” vehicles and treats two-wheelers as a side note. It’s understandable, and even my own well-meaning colleagues here at Electrek can occasionally be guilty of it. But this attitude misses an essential point: For millions of people worldwide, especially in densely populated urban centers throughout Asia and increasingly in Europe and North America, an electric scooter or bicycle isn’t just a real vehicle – it’s often the most sensible, efficient, and affordable choice.
Two-wheeled electric vehicles offer numerous practical advantages over cars. They’re dramatically more energy-efficient, cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, easier to maintain, and fit seamlessly into urban lifestyles where space is limited and traffic congestion is the norm. Electric scooters and bikes aren’t just vehicles; they’re solutions to pressing urban issues like air pollution, traffic congestion, and affordability. Most young urban commuters can’t afford a new Tesla, nor can they charge its battery in the living room of their fifth-floor apartment. But a typical e-bike or e-scooter solves both of those problems, bringing affordability and convenience to the electric vehicle market.
Moreover, Yadea reaching the incredible milestone of 100 million electric vehicle sales highlights the sheer scale and impact of electric two-wheelers globally. And that’s just one company. For comparison, Tesla recently celebrated surpassing just over 7 million total vehicles, and BYD, despite its rapid growth, is still far behind Yadea in cumulative units delivered.
The takeaway here is clear: Let’s not get caught up in automotive tunnel vision. If we truly care about electrification and sustainability, it’s vital to recognize that the global electric vehicle market is bigger – and more diverse – than cars alone. Companies like Yadea aren’t just quietly outselling Tesla and BYD; they’re providing practical mobility solutions that might just be the “better” electric vehicles that millions of people actually need.
Electrek’s Micah Toll checks out a new Yadea electric scooter at the company’s 2024 Retail Dealer’s Summit in China
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