Hyundai and Kia slash electric vehicle prices amid intensifying EV price war in home market
In an “EV Sale Fiesta,” Hyundai and Kia plan to cut prices on several electric vehicles amid an ongoing price war in Korea. The planned EV price cuts will run until the end of the year.
“We plan to prepare various discount programs to revitalize the domestic electric vehicle market in the future,” A Hyundai Motor Company official stated.
Hyundai announced its planned “EV Sale Fiesta” on Monday, offering special discounts for electric car buyers. The move comes as the South Korean government expanded subsidies to boost demand.
Several models are featured in the promo, including the IONIQ 5, IONIQ 6, and Kona EV. The deal includes 4 million won off (almost $3,000) on the IONIQ 5, 4 million won ($3,000) off the IONIQ 6, and 2 million won (nearly $1,500) off the Kona EV.
Including an additional government subsidy of 800,000 won, IONIQ 5 buyers can save up to 4.8 million won, or $3,500. The discount will make the EV much cheaper in South Korea, with starting prices of around 46 million won ($34,000).
Kia is running a similar deal with price cuts on the EV6 (3.84 million won/ $2,844 off) and Niro EV and Niro Plus models (1.44 million won/ $1,066).
If you add Kia’s monthly inventory discount, the EV6 is up to 4.84 million won ($3,600), while the Niro EV is up to 3.44 million won ($2,500). The Niro Plus is up to 4.44 million won ($3,300) off.
Hyundai and Kia cut prices as EV price war intensifies
Hyundai says it’s also expanding its ultra-fast EV charging network, “E-Pit,” boosting access to convenient charging.
As of Monday, Hyundai had a total of 214 E-pit charging stations spread throughout cities, highways, rest areas, and expressways.
The Hyundai official added, “In connection with the policy of expanding subsidies for the purchase of electric passenger vehicles, we have prepared a discount benefit to repay the support and love of our customers.”
Meanwhile, Kia said it plans to extend the benefits for the new Ray EV and flagship EV9 electric SUV.
Self-employed customers shipping EV9 models can gain member points that can be used to pay for one year’s worth of charging fees, amounting to 1 million won ($740) in savings.
Ray EV buyers can receive six months’ worth of charging fees worth 300,000 won ($222) through 150,000 won off the purchase price and another 150,000 won off for self-employed. The deals will run through the end of the year.
Hyundai and Kia’s latest price cuts come as EV sales growth slowed this year amid lagging economic growth, according to Lee Hang-Koo, head of Jeonbuk Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology (via Bloomberg).
EV sales in Korea slipped from 71,744 during the first eight months of 2022 to 67,654 this year. Korea’s new subsidies are designed to help stimulate demand.
Lee said, “A price war will intensify next year in Korea as foreign carmakers may release new models. US or European brands made in China could draw popularity.”
EV leader Tesla began selling its Model Y, made in China, for $44,000 in July, putting pressure on domestic automakers. Tesla’s Model Y was the best-selling car globally in the first three months of the year, making it the first EV to achieve the milestone.
Tesla’s aggressive price cuts this year are not only putting pressure on Hyundai and Kia but several major automakers in their home markets as buyers transition to all-electric options.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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