Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation furthered its clean mobility strategy through strategic investment of €100 million in a new partnership with the British autonomous EV startup, Arrival. The first EV from the stable is a 4th generation electrified Elantra Yuedong now listed as the Beijing Hyundai Elantra GS. The Hyundai and BAIC JV, Beijing Hyundai, is a 50/50 JV founded in terms of Chinese law. The company is speaking to the likes of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) and others for battery supply. The Hyundai-Kia alliance is also planning Chinese versions of its electric vehicles, and for the purpose, it is in the process of sourcing batteries from China, since Korean suppliers LG-Chem and Samsung are excluded from subsidies in China from 2016. Hyundai’s luxury brand, Genesis also announced today that it would introduce a PHEV by 2019 and BEV by 2021. Hyundai now expects the EV market to be around 10% of the global fleet by 2025, at which point Fuel Cell EV’s will take off. An analyst at Hi Investment Securities went further to say that they must target long-range electric vehicles between 190 miles and 400 miles to be relevant at all.
Investment analyst expects the company to lose money initially on the shift to EV’s, but that should they not act they would be left behind.
The Korean automaker has been criticized by investors and analysts for not acting on electric vehicles sooner, pressuring the company to change its strategy. It is clear from the announcement that the company is aggressively trying to catch up on lost ground. The platform is modeled after that of Tesla, with the batteries in the floor, allowing for more battery capacity and cabin space. Although the company is developing its own dedicated platform, it can’t say when it would be ready. Lee, the SUV would have a range of 185 miles (300km). Lee shed some more light on the company’s plans, indicating that the first fully electric vehicle planned for next year would be a small SUV. The planned product mix include’s four plug-in hybrids, four electric and one hydrogen fuel cell model. In Los Angeles, the company said that it planned to have 14 new alternative vehicles in the US by 2020.
Lee Ki-Sang, shed light on the strategy change to electric vehicles during an interview ahead of the 2017 Seoul Motor Show. Hyundai- Kia’s head of its green car efforts, situated in the city of Yongin, Mr. The company, which also owns KIA Motors (000270.KS), announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2016 that it will change course to electric vehicles. The South Korean automaker, Hyundai Motors (005380.KS) strategy has been focused on Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles until investor pressure forced the company to change in 2016. In March 2017 Hyundai that admitted electric vehicles are an imperative. Initially, Hyundai was electric vehicle shy and its strategy, Hyundai Bluedrive focused on improving fuel efficiency and driving the expansion of the green vehicle market through a focus on Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles.