Hyundai Motor, Brazil's Chinese EV Invasion: Lee Jae-yong Pledges "Full-Company Support" to Break Through Head-On

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the Hyundai Motor plant in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on the 27th (local time) to review its medium-to-long-term growth strategy. Jeong (Chairman) urged acceleration of growth based on a "localization strategy" and promised active support from headquarters to achieve this. This is interpreted as a determination to break through head-on the challenges posed by the rapid penetration of low-priced Chinese electric vehicles into the Brazilian market.

Visiting the site as part of a South Korean economic delegation linked to President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to Brazil, Jeong (Chairman) first visited the Latin America R&D (Research and Development) center within the factory grounds. At this meeting with researchers, he emphasized that "to secure sustainable medium-to-long-term business competitiveness, it is necessary to strengthen local R&D functions and more actively pursue powertrain localization."

He then moved to the production plant to check the production quality of the i20 and SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) model Creta, which began production in June. This plant produces a total of 200,000 units annually through mixed production of Brazil-specialized models HB20, Creta, and i20. Jeong (Chairman) noted that cumulative production at the Brazil plant had surpassed 2.5 million units as of March this year, encouraging employees by saying it was "a result achieved through the dedication and teamwork of the Brazil plant staff."

Jeong (Chairman) also received a work report from Hyundai Motor Brazil plant and Latin America headquarters employees and exchanged opinions on medium-to-long-term development plans for production and sales. He stressed, "While there are many challenges and tasks ahead due to changes in Brazil's industrial environment and new competitive conditions, overcoming this crisis is essential for the next stage of growth and leapfrogging," adding, "We will actively provide full-company support to enable even greater leaps in Brazil."

The "new competitive phase" mentioned by Jeong (Chairman) appears to refer to Chinese brands rapidly gaining market share in Brazil's electric vehicle market. In the first half of this year, China's BYD narrowly surpassed fifth-place Hyundai Motor to take fourth place in Brazil's automotive sales market.

Based on the "full-company support" promised by Jeong (Chairman), Hyundai Motor will expand its SUV lineup, introduce locally optimized eco-friendly vehicles, and build a foundation for hydrogen business. First, it will strengthen sales of the popular local model Creta while unveiling various SUV models across different segments by 2030. Additionally, it is exploring plans for local production of small-segment electric vehicles and developing dedicated powertrains based on gasoline-ethanol fuel (FFV-HEV) to apply to SUV models.

In the medium-to-long term, Hyundai Motor will promote the establishment of a hydrogen and renewable energy ecosystem in Brazil. Collaborating with major group affiliates, it will focus on pioneering new markets for hydrogen mobility, including hydrogen commercial vehicles and hydrogen trams. It also plans to actively identify new businesses such as green hydrogen production, supply of hydrogen fuel cell systems, and construction of renewable energy power plants.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group announced today that it has recruited Vice President Kwon Jung-hyun as the head of the Autonomous Driving Development Center under the AVP (Advanced Vehicle Platform) headquarters to strengthen competitiveness in the autonomous driving field. Vice President Kwon recently led intelligent robot development at Samsung Electronics. Prior to that, he was an expert in the autonomous driving AI (Artificial Intelligence) field who handled autonomous driving software development and productization at NVIDIA. Going forward, he will take on a comprehensive role covering everything from core technology development to productization of autonomous driving within Hyundai Motor Group. A Hyundai Motor Group official stated, "Through this recruitment, we aim to advance technologies across the entire autonomous driving domain and accelerate the execution of our future mobility strategy."