Hyundai Motor plans to invest US$16b in EV push

[SEOUL] South Korea's Hyundai Motor said on Wednesday it planned to invest about US$79.21 billion through 2030, including about US$16.10 billion towards electric vehicle (EV) related businesses.

Hyundai Motor, which together with affiliate Kia Corp is among the world's top 10 biggest automakers by sales, targets to achieve a 7 per cent market share in the global EV market by 2030, with an annual sales target of 1.87 million vehicles, the automaker said during a virtual investor day.

The Seoul-based automaker said it aimed to achieve an operating profit margin of 10 per cent or higher in EV business by 2030.

"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 ongoing pandemic," Hyundai Motor chief executive officer Jaehoon Chang said.

Analysts, however said Hyundai's US$16 billion investment in EV business would not be considered an "aggressive" approach compared with its rivals, adding, the investment is easily dwarfed by bigger rivals including Toyota Motor Corp, which plans to invest US$69.43 billion for electrification by 2030.

"Hyundai is allocating about 20 per cent of its 95.5 trillion won (S$107.4 billion) 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," said Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Lee Jae-il.

Chang said Hyundai was considering building new dedicated EV production plants without proving details of new factories, including locations and timeline.

Analysts said Hyundai would be eying on building dedicated EV factories in the United States, as it considers that as its key EV market.

Shares in Hyundai Motor closed down 2.6 per cent, compared with the benchmark Kospi's 0.2 per cent gain. REUTERS