Hyundai India To Start Production Of Its First Electric SUV This Year

Hyundai Motor Group’s Executive Chair Euisun Chung was recently in India to review the group’s mid-to and long-term strategies at the new Hyundai Motor India headquarters in Gurugram. This was also the first overseas town hall meeting of the Chung. He was joined by Jaehoon Chang, the President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, and Unsoo Kim, Managing Director and CEO of Hyundai Motor India, in addition to the 440 strong Hyundai Motor India employees at the meet.

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New Made-In-India Hyundai EV In The Cards

Hyundai Motor Group also aims to expand its presence in the local EV market in the country. It will start with the mass production of its first electric SUV model at its Chennai plant by the end of 2024. And by 2030, it plans to further produce five EV models by 2030. It will also expand the number of EV charging stations in the country to 485 by 2030.

Hyundai India and Kia also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Exide Energy Solutions Ltd. to pursue local production of batteries for dedicated Indian EV models. By localising the production of EV batteries, Hyundai aims to ensure its upcoming EVs will be competitively priced, and will also help bring down a significant portion of EV production cost. 

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Hyundai's Long Term Plans

As part of Hyundai’s mid and long-term goals, the brand will work on expanding its production. As part of that strategy, Hyundai Motor India will start operating its Pune plant, which it acquired from General Motors last year, in the second half of next year. This production hub will be capable of building more than 200,000 units annually. Coupled with Hyundai’s Chennai plant production capacity of 824,000 units, the Indian arm of the Korean carmaker aims to have an annual production of over one million units. 

Hyundai Group plans to increase Kia India’s annual production to 431,000 units, from its current 340,000 annual capacity. With both combined, Hyundai Motor Group will be able to produce approximately 1.5 million units annually in India.

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Executive Chair Chung said, "We will develop EVs tailored to the Indian market and expand EV infrastructure in the region. We will lead the next generation of mobility in India, playing a key role in electrification, and we will continue to elevate Hyundai as a premium ."