It’s not just Tesla that electrifies investors. After the start of the electric car brand Ioniq, the share price of the Korean automaker Hyundai also rose significantly.
The South Korean car company Hyundai is rushing out of the price low with electric cars. In the first week of August, the Korean stock price rose 16 percent. Because in contrast to most of its rivals, Hyundai is also making a profit in the corona crisis. But that is not the only reason for the soaring: The new electric car brand Ioniq apparently fires the imagination of investors. On Monday, the price of Hyundai shares rose another 15.7 percent to 170,000 won.
One million electric cars by 2025
Hyundai is pursuing ambitious plans and wants to become one of the world’s leading electric car manufacturers with Ioniq. Hyundai launched Ioniq back in 2016, albeit as a model with three different drives: hybrid, plug-in hybrid and purely battery-electric drive. But the three models should now become a brand of their own. The group now plans to sell one million battery-electric cars by 2025, covering ten percent of global demand for electric cars, including fuel cell vehicles.
Ioniq 5 SUV coming in 2021
Three new models are now set to put the brand in the fast lane: in 2021, the medium-sized crossover utility vehicle Ioniq 5, the first model to run solely under the Ioniq brand, will debut. The car is based on the Concept 45, which the Koreans showed at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt in 2019.
Ioniq 6 coming in 2022
For 2022, the automaker announced the Ioniq 6 sedan, a roadworthy replica of the Prophecy concept car presented in March. With the launch of the Ioniq 7 SUV, the Koreans also want to occupy the top segment. The engineers will be able to use the parts of the “Electric Global Modular Platform”.
Stock price skyrocket
For shareholders, this declaration of electric war was enough to drive the group’s share price back close to the level of Hyundai’s record level in the first half of the 2010s amid the largest sales crisis in the auto industry. At that time, the Koreans even beat the Japanese industry leader Toyota in terms of profitability. But then Hyundai got a little out of step after rapid expansion.
Kia and Hyundai are missing the sales target
In the meantime, despite the crisis, optimism has returned. Hyundai and its partner Kia Motors will miss the original sales target for 2020 of 7.5 million cars. In the first six months, the duo only sold 3.3 million cars because of the Covid-19 pandemic because the Koreans also had to close factories. In addition, operating profit halved in the second quarter. But at 420 million euros, Hyundai brought in one of the highest profits in the industry at a time when most of its rivals have slipped into the red.
Sales also slowly picked up again in July. Hyundai’s global sales were still 13 percent below the previous year’s level with around 313,000 cars. Lucky for Hyundai: In the home market of South Korea, the pandemic was largely brought under control without a total lockdown. And the group was also able to increase its sales in the USA recently. Analysts believe that new models such as the GV80 SUV, G80 sedan and the large Tucson SUV will add to the positive trend.
The sister companies also benefit from the soaring Hyundai share: The share price of Kia rose by 9.7 percent to 46,350 won, that of the supplier Hyundai Mobis by 6.5 percent to 238,000 won.
