Quote:
Originally Posted by roflwaffle
I wouldn't go that far. They've certainly made the jump from short range compliance EVs to medium range compliance EVs, but those are still compliance cars. When they make a serious attempt at expanding production and offer comparative pricing in all 50 states, then they've stopped making compliance cars.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ME_Andy
Given the small quantities they're manufacturing, I doubt they will make a profit.
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The USA is not the Korean's primary EV market.
Kia and Hyundai sold 90,860 EVs in 2018 (double 2017 sales). Most of those were sold in Korea and the EU. They are strategically sending available cars to their home market and to EU countries with strong EV sales due to government incentives.
In the USA they are restricting sales to US states with high EV sales. This means that some CARB states don't get EVs and some non-CARB states like Texas do. It makes no sense to offer EV sales in a places where training the service and sales staff to support EVs would cost more than the sales of the actual vehicles. Hyundai & Kia USA can sell every EV they are allocated in only 14 states so why would they expand to other states?
This is all designed to maximize profit. Hyundai and Kia buy a limited number of batteries each year from LG and SK. They send the limited number of EVs available to places with high sales to minimize the need to discount unsold units. Limiting the geographical areas that sell EVs also minimizes logistics and training costs.