A decrease in demand for electric vehicles in South Korea has prompted Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corporation to cut the prices of some of their EVs, Bloomberg reports.
Hyundai will cut the cost of the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and Kona EV. Kia will cut the price for the EV6, Niro EV and Niro Plus.
Earlier this year it was reported that Hyundai would not implement the “knee-jerk reaction” of slashing its prices amidst a Tesla initiated price war, its European CEO Michael Cole said at the Reuters Automotive Conference in Munich, Germany.
The price cuts will take place in October and will run to the end of this year to take advantage of the government’s subsidy expansion, the automakers said.
South Korea’s subsidy program, coupled with the automakers’ cuts, could intensify the EV price war. Some cars will be as much as one-third cheaper in South Korea than in other countries, Bloomberg writes.
Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 will carry a discount of 8%, selling for 46 million won ($34,100), down from 50 million won. In the UK, the price of the same car starts at £43,445 and $41,450 in the US.
