We know that Hyundai Motor has specific plans for electrification, and today we learned some more about those plans. The South Korean auto giant, which includes the Hyundai brand as well as the Genesis luxury marque, confirmed during a investors’ meeting that it plans to invest some $16 billion USD on electric vehicle-related activities and that in all, it plans to launch 17 new models by the end of the decade.
Of the lot, 11 will sport a Hyundai logo, and six will be produced by Genesis. All in all, the company has committed close to $80 billion in total investments between now and 2030, including that $16B figure for EVs..
Hyundai confirmed that three of its future BEVs will be sedans; there will also be six SUVs, one light utility vehicle and one new model type, yet to be identified. That last will certainly feed some interesting speculation, safe to say. It shouldn’t be surprising to see new formats emerge along with electrification, but what those are are, obviously, not yet known.
At least two of the planned models are already known, of course. The Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 7 are expected this year and next as 2023 and 2024 models, respectively.
Hyundai is aiming for a 7-percent global market share in the electric vehicle sector by 2030. That would require the automaker selling 1.87 million electric models on an annual basis by that time.
It’s an ambitious goal, and its attainment will depend in large part on production and delivery capacity. At the moment, virtually every manufacturer has an ambitious plan, but how realistic each is varies, and will depend on future conditions. For sure, companies will be pressing to pick up the pace of their electrification shift in the next few years.
Hyundai Motor Chief Executive Officer Jaehoon Chang said that “Hyundai is successfully accelerating its transition to electrification and becoming a global leader in EVs despite a challenging business environment caused by the global chip shortage and ongoing pandemic.”
Hyundai’s $16 billion investment in EV development and production is significant, but not record-breaking. Toyota, for one, will pump some $70 billion into electric models and products over the next eight years.
“Hyundai is allocating about 20% of its 95.5 trillion won ($79.2 billion USD) investment to EV related businesses, which includes building new plants, EV charging stations and strategic alliances with battery manufacturers and the investment amount for EV does not seem too surprising or aggressive,” said Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Lee Jae-il, as reported by Autoblog.
Hyundai is reportedly considering building dedicated electric-vehicle plants in the U.S., which the company identifies as its primary market for such vehicles.
More news will follow regarding these announcements, including what models are in the pipeline.
