Tesla is still on top, the Chinese manufacturer is expanding. But Hyundai Motor Group plans to dominate electric cars soon. Hyundai has sold less than 4 million vehicles in 2022, but big changes are coming as the parent company seeks to rise in the EV world.
Hyundai wants to be one of the “top three electric car manufacturers” by 2030, but exactly how the company interprets the list is unclear. What we can say is that if Hyundai Motor Group wants to sell 3.6 million electric cars in 2030, it will work. This competition will not pass.
Hyundai Motor Group wants to go global. Korean company wins well “How good are these electric cars?” a challenge that every driver plays these days, but it needs more. Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) announced earlier this month that it wants to be among the “top 3 electric car manufacturers” by 2030.
Exactly what that means is a little hard to say, and even Hyundai isn’t ready to say publicly which companies it’s targeting. Tesla is obviously the first electric car company in the world, but it is not the only one.
Will Hyundai include Chinese-only domestic brands, especially companies like Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC Motors) that sell their fair share of electric cars in urban areas? Or does Hyundai want to be considered in the top three regardless of the company you are looking at?
Who are even the top three? We asked who Hyundai considers its competition here, but HMG spokesperson Seoyong Choi told Car and Driver,
“We’re not talking about other automakers.” Aim to include both passenger cars and commercial vehicles from HMG’s three brands: Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. HMG will offer more than 30 types of electric vehicles by 2030.
So, let’s look at the sales figures for electric cars. To put them into perspective and understand the extent of Hyundai’s strategy, let’s consider the current situation. Globally, the sale of plug-in vehicles has increased significantly in 2021, and the total sales of electric and hybrid vehicles will almost double compared to 2020.
Despite the start of the epidemic, annual EV sales in 2020 are stable compared to previous years, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
About 2.7 million electric cars were sold in China in 2021, almost half a million in the United States and 1.2 million in Europe. Choi said HMG plans to produce and sell 3.6 million electric vehicles worldwide by 2030. The Hyundai brand sold 3.9 million vehicles, of all powertrain types, in 2022 and expects to sell 4.3 million vehicles in 2023.
Tesla is always on top
What about the Hyundai competition? Global electric car leader Tesla sold 1.3 million cars in 2022, and despite the ongoing news surrounding CEO Elon Musk’s behavior on Twitter, Tesla sales are still strong.
Given Musk’s behavior, we can’t predict where things will be in 2030, but no one should expect Tesla to go away. Ford, GM and Volkswagen have made big strides in their electric car game in recent years, and VW says it wants half of its sales to be electric by 2030.
VW sold 4.5 million vehicles in 2022. We’re still waiting to see where a Chinese company with international ambitions like BYD might fall by the end of the decade.
Made in Korea and USA
Selling more electric cars would require building new electric car factories or expanding those operating today, but Choi would not say how many new factories have yet to be announced and built in time for the 2030 deadline.
HMG said it will spend $18 billion to develop Korea’s electric vehicle industry, including funding for new factories, and expects $1.5 million of the 3.6 million electric vehicles HMG will build and sell in 2030 will happen in Korea.
In 2022, HMG announced a new company dedicated to building purpose-built electric vehicles such as the Niro Plus, an electric model that will be used as both a general model and a free taxi in Korea.
In the United States, Hyundai opened a new electric car factory in Georgia last October and said it will be able to produce up to 500,000 electric cars a year. It seems that HMG will increase the capacity everywhere to achieve the goal of “Top 3”, but all Choi will say is, “We are looking at different situations to respond in a soft way to market conditions.
Hyundai will also be a little more flexible when it comes to vehicle design thanks to the next generation dedicated EV passenger called eM, which will be introduced in 2025, which is equipped with an Integrated Modular Architecture system.
(IMA) from Hyundai. Cars built on the platform using IMA will be able to use batteries and motors designed “to increase the speed and efficiency of product development,” according to Hyundai.
