▲President Yoon Seok-yeol attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Kia's electric vehicle plant. (Photo source: Office of the President)


Strengthening the role of a global future automotive industry innovation hub
Domestic electric vehicle production target of 1.51 million units by 2030

Hyundai Motor Group has unveiled its mid- to long-term strategy to become a global top 3 electric vehicle manufacturer by 2030, and announced that it will strengthen the competitiveness of its domestic electric vehicle research and development, production, and infrastructure ecosystem.

Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to invest 24 trillion won in the domestic electric vehicle sector by 2030 at a groundbreaking ceremony for a dedicated customer-focused electric vehicle factory held at AutoLand Hwaseong on the 11th.

Song Ho-sung, President of Kia Motors, said, “Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors, and Hyundai Mobis plan to invest a total of 24 trillion won in the domestic electric vehicle sector by 2030, contributing to Korea’s leap forward as one of the top three global electric vehicle powerhouses.” He added, “We will strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic electric vehicle R&D, production, and infrastructure ecosystems, and lead the change and innovation of the future automobile industry.”

Hyundai Motor Group announced its goal of strengthening its role as a global future automobile industry innovation hub, including the advancement of the electric vehicle industry through large-scale domestic investment, by expanding domestic annual electric vehicle production to 1.51 million units (920,000 units exported) by 2030 and planning global electric vehicle production to 3.64 million units.

Hyundai Motor Group's large-scale investment in the domestic electric vehicle sector is expected to advance the domestic electric vehicle ecosystem and strengthen its role as a hub for innovation in the global future automobile industry. This is expected to promote a virtuous cycle among domestic electric vehicle production, R&D, infrastructure, and related industries.

Hyundai Motor Group will first expand its domestic electric vehicle production capacity by building new, customized electric vehicle-only factories and converting existing factories to electric vehicle-only lines. />
In particular, industrial robots in the electric vehicle production plants being built by the Hyundai Motor Group will be installed with domestically produced intelligent robots, resulting in a 99% localization rate for the equipment. Furthermore, most of the investment in factory equipment will be returned to domestic companies, contributing to the strengthening of the domestic economy and national industrial competitiveness.

We will also focus on R&D, including developing a next-generation electric vehicle platform, expanding our product lineup, developing core components and advanced technologies, and establishing research facilities. We will also revitalize domestic technology development in collaboration with our partners.

Through this, we will strengthen the integrated product competitiveness encompassing both hardware and software, such as diversifying the dedicated platform product lineup, enhancing the PE (Power Electric) system, including batteries and motors, which are the core of electric vehicle performance, and developing technologies to increase the driving distance on a single charge.

We are also accelerating the acquisition of next-generation platforms to fundamentally improve the performance of electric vehicles. The company plans to sequentially develop various dedicated platforms for each vehicle class under the 'Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA)' system, including a dedicated passenger electric vehicle platform to be introduced in 2025.

Platforms that utilize an integrated modular architecture are expected to standardize batteries and motors, thereby improving product development speed and efficiency.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group plans to have a total of 31 electric vehicle lineups by 2030, with Kia planning to launch the EV9 this year and Hyundai Motor Company planning to launch the Ioniq 7 in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Kia electric vehicle factory, which held its groundbreaking ceremony this time, is the first completed vehicle manufacturing plant built in Korea in 29 years.

This is the first dedicated electric vehicle plant in Korea, and is scheduled to begin mass production in the second half of 2025, with an annual production capacity of up to 150,000 units.

Kia plans to exclusively produce customized electric vehicles at this new plant, and the first model in its Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV) lineup, SW (project name), which will be launched in 2025, will be developed as a mid-size vehicle.

Based on a skateboard-shaped PBV electric vehicle platform, it can flexibly combine various types of vehicle bodies.

Following the launch of the SW, a mid-size PBV, Kia plans to expand its product lineup to include large-size PBVs that can be used for general logistics, fresh food delivery, multi-person shuttles, mobile offices and stores, as well as small-size PBVs and mid-size robotaxis equipped with autonomous driving technology.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group has been operating a 'New Mutual Cooperation Program' worth 5.2 trillion won since last year to strengthen the competitiveness of the parts industry in the era of electrification.

Hyundai Motor Group announced last year that it would promote 'automobile industry coexistence and In order to 'strengthen competitiveness in the era of future vehicles,' the company announced a new win-win cooperation program and announced plans to significantly expand support not only to first-tier suppliers but also to over 5,000 second- and third-tier suppliers with whom it does not have direct transactions, thereby playing a leading role in accelerating the transition to electrification in the parts industry and contributing to the qualitative growth of the domestic automobile industry.

A Hyundai Motor Group official said, “We plan to strengthen our competitiveness in the global electric vehicle sector, focusing on Korea, through concentrated investment in Korea,” adding, “We will strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic electric vehicle ecosystem and lead changes and innovation in the global future automobile industry.”