Korean automakers should push EV cars in China amid declining sales in the world’s largest car market, analysts said on Tuesday.

The combined market share of Korean carmakers in China -- namely Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors -- declined to 7.3 percent in the first half of this year from 9 percent in 2014, while Chinese makers saw their share surge to more than 42 percent. 


Industry watchers said Korean automakers may further lose its share in the mid- to long-term in China if they fail to gain the upper hand in the EV market, which the Chinese government and companies are strongly pushing for.

“China, which lost market leadership in engine-powered vehicles and needs to ease air pollution, will further focus on electric cars,” Park Jae-bum, a senior analyst from Posco Research Institute, told The Korea Herald.

“If Korean companies are not ready to follow the trend in the Chinese auto market, its share will further decline,” he said.

Lee Hang-koo, an analyst from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, also said, “Hyundai Motor does not appear to view positively replacing its engines and transmissions with Samsung and LG’s batteries. That may make its position smaller in Chinese as well as global markets.”

Hyundai Motor’s global market last year was 9 percent and its electric car share stood at 1.3 percent, according to the institute’s data.

China, for its part, became the world’s largest EV producer, selling 200,000 units last year. Chinese automaker BYD is currently the world’s largest EV maker, selling 61,000 units last year.

The fast growth was mainly driven by the strong support from the government, which aims to produce 3 million EVs by 2025 and 5 million units by 2020. Under the state leadership, Chinese EV companies have grown steadily by hiring key engineers and acquiring business from global firms.

Earlier this year, EV maker Mobility, backed by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, hired four key engineers who contributed to BMW’s eco-friendly i8 project. Another EV firm NexEV, also backed by Tencent, appointed Martin Leach, who led Italian car maker Maserati, as its chairman and plans to launch its first electric car in 2017. BYD also recently acquired China’s largest parts maker Wanxiang Group to set up electric car startup Karma Automotive.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)