Hyundai launches $18,000 EV in Japan to penetrate EV-wary market

By Kantaro Komiya

CHIBA, Japan (Reuters) -South Korea’s Hyundai Motor (OTC:HYMTF) stated on Friday it will introduce the most affordable compact electrical automotive in Japan, to penetrate a market dominated by native giants with established petrol and hybrid car applied sciences.

The Japan launch of the Hyundai Inster follows makes an attempt by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and different international manufacturers to enter a rustic seeing a sluggish take-up of EVs. With the Inster, Hyundai will take a low-price technique akin to China’s main EV maker, BYD (SZ:002594).

The two.85 million yen ($18,000) entry-model price ticket would be the lowest for a compact electrical automotive in Japan, beneath the three.63 million yen BYD set in 2023 with its Dolphin.

Inster, which made its debut in Europe final 12 months after launching in South Korea as Casper Electrical, shall be delivered to Japanese clients beginning round Could, Hyundai Mobility Japan CEO Toshiyuki Shimegi stated at a information convention throughout the Tokyo Auto Salon motor present.

Within the Japanese ultra-compact, limited-power “kei automotive” class, Nissan (OTC:NSANY) Motor’s Sakura is offered at 2.60 million yen and is the most well-liked EV within the nation.

However even Sakura had fewer than 23,000 gross sales final 12 months, down practically 40% from 2023, an trade tally confirmed, highlighting the dearth of recognition of EVs in a Japanese passenger automotive market that has roughly 4 million annual car gross sales.

Final 12 months, Hyundai offered solely 607 automobiles in Japan, whereas BYD offered 2,223. Tesla didn’t disclose its Japan gross sales.

“Inster is our core product to win Japanese clients’ recognition,” Shimegi stated, including that it assist Hyundai meet its purpose of boosting Japan gross sales tenfold within the subsequent 5 years.

Hyundai, which types the world’s third-largest auto group with Kia, re-entered Japan’s passenger automotive market in 2022 with solely electrical and gas cell automobiles, after exiting in 2009 because of low gross sales in a rustic dominated by Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), Honda (NYSE:HMC) Motor and different Japanese auto majors.

($1 = 158.0000 yen)