Hyundai reveals $8.5 billion power push to accelerate EV ambitions

Hyundai Motor Co has unveiled a 10.5 trillion won or $8.5 billion investment plan through the course of just 2023 in order to push its clean-emission vehicles and technology. This was revealed by Hyundai in an exchange filing in its home market of South Korea on Thursday.

Hyundai has time and again underlined its ambitions of not just being a player but a commanding force in the EV game and apart from its conventional vehicles, offers EVs under the Ioniq brand name. In 2023, the company is focusing on selling as many as 43 lakh vehicles which would be around 10 per cent more than it sold in all of 2022. And a significant portion of the sales may come from EVs as EV adoption the world over continues to rise gradually. Affiliate Kia Corp is also betting big on EVs and plans to sell over 32 lakh vehicles this year.

Combined, Hyundai and Kia are ranked as the world's third largest carmaker, trailing Toyota and Volkswagen AG. But when it comes to EVs specifically, Tesla has a commanding lead over all rivals and is looking at selling around 20 lakh EVs this year alone. But while Tesla found momentum on the back of recent price cuts announced in key markets like China and the US, Hyundai has found going getting tough in many parts of the world. In the US, the company is negotiating to ease concerns over President Joe Biden’s climate and energy bill. Sales in China fell 19 per cent over a three-month period while figures have been rather stagnant in Europe. Russia emerged as a big worry after Hyundai halted operations here in 2022 in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sales fell by around 65 per cent in the last quarter. The company, however, remains optimistic and is aiming for a revenue growth of 11.5 per cent in 2023.