Hyundai Group guns for top three place in global EV market

By the decade’s end, the Hyundai Group wants to be one of the top three global EV makers. So the Korean carmaker is piling up sales from its three house brands (Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis) to bolster that ambition. It targets an annual production of 3,64 million all-electric cars spread over 31 models.

The road map was presented at the inaugural ceremony to construct the Group’s first Purpose-Built Vehicles (PBVs) factory in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. This is a milestone because this unit, under Kia’s umbrella, will assemble software-defined PBVs in 2025.

These are battery-powered vehicles developed from the same basic architecture around specific user profiles and advanced software architectures. Think of robotaxis, ride-hailing cars, autonomous driving shuttles – alias commercial vehicles of the future.

Investment of 16,5 billion euros

By 2030, the Korean Group will build 1,5 million battery-electric cars domestically. In addition, it is investing 24 trillion won (16,5 billion euros) across its departments (ranging from its automotive brands to its R&D arm Mobis) to secure a place in the global top three.

The PBV unit is only one stepping stone to reaching this goal. Together with nineteen companies, the Group has built a consortium to accelerate the trend toward software-defined vehicles (SDVs, expected as of 2025) while the company is also expanding the existing range of EVs.

eM and eS lines

For this next generation of vehicles, the Group is building a new framework under the name Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA), further enhancing efficiency, performance, and standardization of production.

IMA comprises an eM line (for passenger cars) and an eS line (for PBVS). It will offer a total of nine battery packs. The fully unveiled Kia EV9 and upcoming Ioniq 7 (2024) don’t build upon IMA. However, the first cars are on the agenda as of 2025.

Next to that, the company is also expanding on its E-pit activities, the fast-charging network from the Group, launched in 2021 and under roll-out on the domestic market.

Of national interest

Hyundai also regards its role in the transition toward electric mobility as a matter of national interest. To support the local industry, it offers a lifeline in the form of ‘favorable’ financial loans to local suppliers, who aim to diversify and switch from combustion engine parts to BEV components.

Kia’s precise part in these plans was unveiled on Tuesday during the 2023 CEO Investor Day. You can read that story here.