Hyundai to invest $50 billion to secure EV future

South Korean car manufacturing group Hyundai announced a massive $50 billion (68 trillion won) investment to secure its position as the auto market transitions to EVs. The Korean automaker will hire 80,000 people in Korea to help it become one of the top three EV makers in the world by 2030.

Hyundai’s new investment is to “secure future growth engines,” including EV tech and software-defined vehicles (SDVs). Over half of the investment ($26 billion) will be used for R&D on EV infrastructure and manufacturing to “dominate core technologies.”

Another $22.8 billion will be used for R&D for EVs, SDVs, and battery tech. Hyundai will also use the funding to expand EV-specific factories, IT capabilities, and joint investments in affiliates.

Building up EV production with three new factories

The company will first make a “large investment” in a new EV-specific factory. In Q2, Kia’s EV plant in Gwangmyeong will be complete, enabling Kia’s affordable EV3 to go on sale in Korea and overseas. In the second half of 2025, Kia’s Hwaseong EV plant will begin producing custom Platform Beyond electric vehicles (PBVs).

Hyundai’s new Ulsan EV plant will begin production in the first quarter of 2026, starting with the “Ultra-large” Genesis electric SUV. Once up and running, the plant is expected to produce 200,000 EVs annually.

Genesis recently unveiled its first full-size luxury electric SUV, the Neolun Concept. The sleek electric SUV will serve as Hyundai’s tech beacon. Hyundai’s luxury brand also announced a new high-performance brand, Magma, that will rival Mercedes-AMG.

Top three

Hyundai Group is currently the third-largest car manufacturer globally, including Kia and Genesis. By 2030, it also aims to be one of the top three EV makers.

By then, Hyundai plans to have 31 electric vehicles with 1.51 million annual domestic EV production capacity. Earlier on, Hyundai already revealed that it wants to produce 3.6 million electrified cars by 2030.

Hyundai is already successful with its dedicated EV platform (E-GMP) underpinning the Ioniq 5 and 6, the Kia EV6, and the Genesis GV60. Hyundai is set to unveil its first three-row electric SUV, the Ioniq 9, later this year.

In February, Hyundai already announced a $1.1 billion investment in Brazil for the next seven years, and in November 2023, it opened a production site in Singapore for high-technology EVs. According to the Group, this facility will be an important pillar in its Ev strategy for the next decades.

200 robots will perform half of the activities in this facility, and the plant will use new production methods that are far different from the current ones. The site has a capacity of 30,000 vehicles yearly.

Green criticism

Also in November, Greenpeace published a report on the growing SUV sales of the Hyundai Group. In the last decade, the sales of bigger and sportier Kia and Hyundai SUVs grew by 150%. According to the NGO, their overconsumption of petrol totally nullified the climatic gain of producing EVs.

Greenpeace says SUVs produce, on average, 12% more CO2 than comparable sedans. It asked Hyundai to reduce its SUV sales. Hyundai’s answer was that it was already urgently developing an entire fleet of fully electric SUVs. Greenpeace retaliated that electric SUVs also emit more CO2 during their production because of the larger amount of steel and other materials used.