Hyundai Motor IONIQ 5 / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

By Kim Hyun-bin

One in every five vehicles Hyundai Motor sold in the European market was electric, the company said.

According to Hyundai Motor's investor relations website, Sunday, the carmaker sold 57,842 vehicles in Europe in the first two months of this year, including 11,532 electric vehicles (EVs) accounting for 20 percent of its total sales.

EVs accounted for only 2 percent of Hyundai Motor's vehicle sales in Europe in 2018, but surged 10 times in just three years.

Europe is one of the fastest-growing EV markets in the world. In line with this, Hyundai Motor is seeking to up its electrification efforts, transforming its existing internal combustion engine and hybrid models to electric.

At the CEO Investor Day in February, Hyundai Motor announced that it would increase its EV sales in Europe from 70,000 in 2021 to 270,000 in 2026 and 480,000 in 2030.

Hyundai Motor has set its target of pulling up the ratio of EVs in its vehicle sales in Europe to 69 percent by 2030, which is higher than its targets of 58 percent in the U.S. and 36 percent in Korea. The automaker plans to have EVs account for all of its new cars sold in Europe by 2035.

Even today, Hyundai's EV share in Europe is higher than the market average. According to a tally by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) last year, EV sales by all automakers in Europe stood at 1.21 million or 10 percent of total vehicle sales.

Kia is also increasing the proportion of EV sales in Europe. It stood at 1 percent of its sales in Europe in 2018, but continued increasing to 3 percent the following year, 9 percent in 2020 and 13 percent in 2021. This year, the company expects the ratio to expand further to 17 percent.

As a result, Hyundai Motor Group has ranked second after Volkswagen Group in EV sales in the European market this year.

According to EU-EVs, a site that aggregates EV sales in 14 major European countries, Hyundai Motor and Kia's EV market share stood at 15 percent this year compared to 11.1 percent last year.

Volkswagen Group ranked at the top with 21.4 percent, followed by Hyundai Motor Group, Stellantis, Tesla, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.