Hyundai unveils €14bn electrification push
South Korean automaker Hyundai has revealed it will be spending around KRW 19.4 trillion (€14.4 billion) on electrification over the coming decade with plans to unveil 17 new battery-electric (BEV) models by 2030.
The firm laid out its ambitions to sell as many as 1.87 million new BEVs annually by the end of the decade at its 2022 CEO Investor Day virtual forum on March 2, raising its previous goal of 560,000 per annum by 2025.
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More recently, Hyundai has been looking to shift to a fully-fledged tech giant with recent pushes into autonomous vehicles and has even unveiled a Metaverse virtual reality factory to aid in "intelligent manufacturing" via a digital twin of a real plant, both of which were a focal point of the forum.
The company will be looking to optimise its manufacturing output in the face of the still-ongoing semiconductor shortage which has caused pitfalls in electric vehicle production since late 2020 while providing competitive hardware and software that will allow it to transition into what its CEO referred to as a "Smart Mobility Solution Provider".
“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,” its President and CEO Jaehoon Chang said at the event.
“Along with our seamless efforts to improve EV value, Hyundai Motor will continue to secure its business sustainability as a ‘Mobility Solutions Provider’ through advanced technologies of not only hardware but also software".
To achieve this, it will be branching out manufacturing plants to deal with the increased demand for EVs, starting with a new plant in Indonesia. It will also be looking to form partnerships with battery suppliers across the globe, from which it hopes to secure 50% of its batteries by 2025.
It will also be looking to diversify overall supply, hoping to secure 170 GWh to aid in the development of all its brand by 2030.
Its recent acquisition of Boston Dynamics, its robotics tech, and advances in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) can also provide a glimpse into future avenues for the firm, with plans to "integrate UAM into the existing transport network so that accessibility would be very easy and similar to current car-sharing platforms".
An additional KRW 12 trillion (€8.9 billion) will be earmarked into artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, Chang revealed.
By 2030, Hyundai is hoping for a profit margin of 10% on electric vehicles and has revealed that 11 of the new 17 EVs will be Hyundai marque models, with six primed to be luxury models under its Genesis brand.
The will include three new sedans, six SUVs, one light commercial vehicle and one new type model.
Chang also revealed the IONIQ 6 is expected to begin sales this year, with the IONIQ 7 scheduled for launch in 2024.
Hyundai will also be launching the Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA), a dedicated EV platform, and the evolution of the platform that forms the foundation of the IONIQ line and will be integrating it will all EVs in a bid to streamline production. This could also stand to bring production costs down.
The platform will standardise car parts like the chassis as well as the battery systems and motors.
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At the event, Hyundai also disclosed an overall financial investment of KRW 95.5 trillion (€71.3 billion) over the decade, which includes the two aforementioned investments into electrification and tech.
The firm will also be pumping KRW 39.1 trillion (€29.2 billion) into R&D, and a colossal KRW 49.6 trillion (€37 billion) into capital expenditure.
- The full Investor Day event can be found here.
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