Hyundai Motors Aiming to Become ‘Global Big 2’… Is it Over the Reef from the US? ::::: article

◀ Anchor ▶

Hyundai Motor Company, which is aiming to become one of the global top two, is working hard to come up with a response strategy following Trump’s inauguration, including diversifying its export lines focused on the United States.

We have begun revising our mid- to long-term strategy to control local electric vehicle production in the United States while increasing exports to India, Vietnam, and the Middle East.

Reporter Lee Sang-wook reports.

◀ Report ▶

This is the ‘Meta Plant’, an electric vehicle factory in Georgia, USA, completed by Hyundai Motor Company at a cost of 10 trillion won.

Prior to completion early next year, we held a ceremony to commemorate the first production of the Ioniq 5 last month and began test production.

Hyundai Motor Company had planned to target the North American market by producing 300,000 electric vehicles annually here, but a red flag was turned on with the election of former President Donald Trump.

This is because the imposition of universal tariffs and the abolition of the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides subsidies for electric vehicles equipped with batteries produced in the United States, have entered the countdown.

If a universal tariff of 10% is imposed on Hyundai Motor Company’s existing export volume to the United States, it is expected to incur a loss of 2.7 trillion won.

Therefore, it is pointed out that after the launch of the second term of the Trump administration early next year, both the US localization strategy and the emerging market diversification strategy must be strengthened.

◀ SYNC ▶ Pil-su Kim, Professor of Future Automotive Department, Daelim University

The Third World and India will also grow in the future, and another important factor is how much new regions such as Southeast Asia, South America, and the Middle East will be developed.

It is also a huge burden for Hyundai Motor Company that Tesla, a leader in the electric vehicle industry, is releasing the mid- to low-priced Model 2 in the first half of next year for the first time in four years.

Hyundai Motor Company surpassed 10% of its electric vehicle market share in the US for the first time in the first half of this year, and it is highly likely that Tesla will launch a counterattack again with Trump’s full support.

Hyundai Motor Company’s operating profit in the third quarter of this year was 6.4 trillion won.

In terms of operating profit alone, it has already surpassed Volkswagen, which ranks second in the world, and has now encountered a reef off the United States.

◀ st-up ▶With Trump’s re-emergence, revisions to Hyundai and Kia Motors’ global Big 2 strategies become inevitable, and the global automobile industry is focusing attention on how to overcome the crisis originating in the United States.

This is Lee Sang-wook from MBC News. ◀ END ▶

Video coverage: Choi Young