[Jeong Eui-seon Ho Launch] 'Electrification, Autonomous Driving, Mobility'... From Future to Reality

Strategic Projects Showing 'Blueprint' Over 2 Years of Management
Putting Them on the Right Track Is the Core Task of the 'Jeong Eui-seon Era'

In Inaugural Message: "Rapid Realization of Robotics and UAM"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] With the full-scale opening of the "Jung Eui-sun era," Hyundai Motor Group's restructuring of its business structure centered on future mobility is expected to gain momentum. Over the past two years, during which he has virtually overseen group management, he has drawn the blueprint for future mobility business; now, the core task of the "Chairman Jung Eui-sun era" is to remove the "future" label and put the mobility business on the right track.

Chairman Jung was promoted to Vice Chairman in September 2018 and has effectively led overall management since then. In March of this year, he solidified his position as the top leader of the group by taking over the chairmanship of Hyundai Motor's board of directors. During the two years of the "Jung Eui-sun system," Chairman Jung repeatedly emphasized the rapidly changing future car market and industrial paradigm shifts, leading fundamental structural reforms. Starting with the declaration of a "transition to a smart mobility solution company," he put the "human-centered" philosophy at the forefront, concretizing the blueprint for eco-friendly vehicles and mobility business, and made sweeping changes to organizational culture, including the personnel system, to respond flexibly to changes.

Having risen to become the undisputed top leader, Chairman Jung is expected to further strengthen Hyundai Motor Group's future car strategy, represented by electrification, autonomous driving, and mobility. He has already announced a plan to invest an additional 100 trillion won in future car-related research and development by 2024 in January this year. Notably, one of the changes in the Jung Eui-sun era is the desire to achieve goals early through collaboration with global companies beyond group-level investments. In his inauguration message, Chairman Jung reiterated this commitment, stating, "We will rapidly realize the imagined future in robotics, urban air mobility (UAM), and smart cities."

Electrification is expected to show visible results first. Hyundai and Kia Motors are making next year the inaugural year for electric vehicles, introducing dedicated electric vehicles based on the Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). Led by the electric vehicle brand "Ioniq," they aim to sell 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 and achieve a market share of over 10%, stepping up as a global leader. In the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle sector, another pillar of eco-friendly vehicles, the plan is to lead the entire ecosystem, including hydrogen production and charging, beyond just finished vehicles. They face the challenging task of securing leadership in the eco-friendly vehicle market amid fierce competition from global automakers like Tesla.

As part of the electric vehicle strategy, cooperation with domestic and international battery companies is also expected to expand. Since May, Chairman Jung has visited battery plants of Samsung, LG, and SK, discussing collaboration in next-generation battery fields with the heads of each company. Subsequently, he attracted attention by producing results in the "K-battery alliance," such as agreeing to cooperate with SK on "BaaS" (Battery as a Service), which considers the battery lifecycle for virtuous utilization.

Developing future mobility solutions, including UAM, which Chairman Jung identifies as a core future business area for the group, is also a major task. Earlier this year at CES 2020, Chairman Jung personally announced a smart mobility vision centered on UAM, purpose-built mobility (PAV), and mobility transfer hubs. At that time, he announced a strategic partnership with Uber and revealed a blueprint to commercialize UAM by 2028. Full support continues, including recruiting Dr. Shin Jae-won, a former NASA aerospace engineer, and establishing a related business division.

In the autonomous driving sector, there is a strong will to accelerate commercialization by establishing specialized joint ventures beyond simple collaboration. A representative example is "Motional," a joint venture established with Aptiv in March this year. Hyundai Motor Group plans to shorten development and commercialization schedules through joint development methods and commercialize innovative Level 4 autonomous driving technology by 2023. In addition, they have secured comprehensive cooperation systems regardless of the field and scale of companies such as Intel, Nvidia, and Metawave.

An industry insider said, "Since Chairman Jung Eui-sun has been steadily preparing for the challenges facing Hyundai Motor Group since he took the lead in management as Vice Chairman, the plans will proceed smoothly even if the head changes for the first time in 20 years. Rather, a new strong leadership is needed at the right time ahead of the industry's great transformation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.