Hyundai to invest 95.5 tln won in R&D, facilities by 2030

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it will invest 95.5 trillion won (US$79 billion) in facilities, R&D activities and other strategic purposes by 2030.

Of the planned investments, Hyundai will spend 43.6 trillion won on facilities, 39.1 trillion won on R&D projects and 12.8 trillion won on strategic programs to morph into a future mobility solutions provider, the company said in a statement.

Hyundai said it plans to increase the production of electric vehicles in its global plants. It has factories in nine countries -- South Korea, the United States, China, India, Russia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Indonesia.

The company said it is considering building an EV-only plant in a market where demand for EVs is high.

Based on expanded capacity and competitive EV models, Hyundai and its independent Genesis brand aim to sell a combined 1.87 million all-electric vehicles in 2030 to gain a share of 7 percent in the global EV market, the statement said.

Hyundai plans to release at least 17 zero-emission models -- 11 from Hyundai and six from Genesis -- in the markets by 2030.

It will focus on boosting sales of the models in major U.S. and European markets amid an accelerating electrification drive in the automobile industry, the statement said.

The company expects the strengthened EV lineup will help raise the ratio of EVs in overall Hyundai and Genesis sales from the current 4 percent to 17 percent in 2026 and 36 percent in 2030.

The maker of the Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe SUV will develop two new dedicated platforms for EVs -- 'eM' and 'eS' -- in 2025 on top of Hyundai Motor Group's EV-only electric-global modular platform (E-GMP), the statement said.

E-GMP models include the IONIQ 5 launched last year and the IONIQ 6 sedan and IONIQ 7 SUV set to be released this year and in 2024, respectively.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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