South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company announced on Wednesday that it plans to invest 95.5 trillion won ($79.21 billion) until 2030, including 19.4 trillion won ($16.10 billion) in EV-related companies.
According to Reuters, Hyundai Motor, which ranks among the world’s top 10 automakers in sales alongside subsidiary Kia Corporation, revealed during a virtual investor day that it aims for a seven percent market share in the international EV market by 2030, with annual sales of 1.87 million cars.
The Seoul-based carmaker seeks an operating profit margin of 10 percent or greater in the EV market by the end of the decade.
Hyundai’s CEO, Jaehoon Chang, said,
Hyundai is successfully accelerating its transition to electrification and becoming a global leader in EVs despite a challenging business environment caused by the global chip shortage and the ongoing pandemic.
On the other hand, analysts said Hyundai’s $16 billion investment in the electric vehicle business would not be assumed as an aggressive approach in comparison to its competitors, noting that the investment is swamped by bigger competitors such as Toyota Motor Corporation which plans to invest 8 trillion yen ($69.43 billion) in electrification by 2030.
Eugene Investment and Securities’ analyst, Lee Jae-il, revealed that
Hyundai is allocating about 20 percent of its 95.5 trillion won investment to EV-related businesses, which includes building new plants, EV charging stations, and strategic alliances with battery manufacturers and the investment amount for EV does not seem too surprising or aggressive.
Chang stated that Hyundai is considering constructing dedicated EV manufacturing plants but did not provide specifics on the new factories, such as their locations or timelines. According to experts, Hyundai is planning to construct specialized EV plants in the United States, which it views to be its major EV marketplace.
Hyundai Motor shares dropped 2.6 percent, opposed to a 0.2 percent increase for the Korean Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) benchmark.
