Hyundai Motor Company unveiled its long-term strategy focused on enhancing its core automotive competitiveness. Despite intensifying global competition and geopolitical threats, the company aims to boost profitability by pursuing a segmented electrification transition and expanding into future businesses such as autonomous driving and robotics.
On August 26, Hyundai held its '2026 CEO Investor Day' at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, announcing a goal to launch 100 new models worldwide by 2030, achieving annual sales of 5.55 million vehicles. This target represents an increase of approximately 1.39 million units compared to this year's goal of 4.158 million, marking a growth rate of 33.5%.
Jose Munoz, CEO of Hyundai, stated, "Hyundai's fundamentals are stronger than ever. We will launch more models and provide more powertrain options to customers while aggressively entering new vehicle segments and markets."
The core of the long-term strategy is the transition to electrification and localization. Specifically, North America will focus on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), while Europe will concentrate on electric vehicles (EVs). In North America, Hyundai plans to introduce 10 new hybrid models, starting with the GV80 HEV, aiming to increase HEV sales to 50%. The company will also launch the 'Santa Fe Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV)' in the first half of next year.
In Europe, Hyundai aims to increase EV sales to 420,000 units, nearly quadrupling last year's sales of 116,000 units. The Ioniq 3, a dedicated electric vehicle for Europe, will officially launch next month, featuring the next-generation infotainment system 'Pleos Connect' for the first time in European models.
To support its aggressive new model launch strategy, Hyundai plans to expand its global production capacity by an additional 1.27 million units by 2030. This includes 200,000 units in South Korea, 500,000 in North America, 320,000 in India, and 250,000 through completely knocked down (CKD) production. The company aims to further refine its product strategy to optimize for regional demand.
In addition to its core business, Hyundai is accelerating efforts to enhance its competitiveness in future sectors such as autonomous driving and robotics. In the fourth quarter, the company will supply Ioniq 5-based robo-taxis produced at its Georgia plant (HMGMA) to Waymo. Motional, a joint venture in which Hyundai has a stake, is set to commercialize the Ioniq 5 robo-taxi by the end of the year.
Hyundai is also speeding up data accumulation for the advancement of autonomous driving models. By the end of the year, it plans to deploy the autonomous driving AI 'Atria AI' in Gwangju, South Korea, to gather data on unexpected situations. Atria AI will gradually be applied to mass-produced vehicles, building a lineup of autonomous driving capabilities from Level 2+ to Level 4.
The company plans to operate the Saemangeum AI Data Center starting in 2029, coinciding with a rapid increase in autonomous driving data. The data center will have a capacity of 100 MW and can accommodate over 50,000 graphics processing units (GPUs).
Hyundai's robotics business will expand the site of its 'Robot Meta Plant Application Center (RMAC)' in the U.S. to ten times its current size by the end of the year. The company plans to deploy the humanoid robot 'Atlas' at HMGMA starting in 2028, indicating a push for training and validation ahead of this deployment.
Through overall business expansion, Hyundai aims to increase its operating profit margin to over 9% by 2030, slightly up from the previous target of 8-9%. The total operating profit is also expected to rise by 11%. Additionally, the company plans to improve its shareholder return policy, raising the total shareholder return rate to over 35%.
Munoz emphasized, "We will evolve into a physical AI company that develops future technologies based on strategic partnerships, creates new opportunities, and produces and deploys robots and robo-taxis."
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.