[Running Toward the Future of Business ④] Hyundai Motor Group Opens the Door Wide in the Electrification Era

The Inaugural Year of Electrification for Hyundai Motor and Kia
The Transition to the Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Era Accelerates

Ioniq 5

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] "From follower to leader."

This reflects the changed status of Hyundai Motor Group amid the paradigm shift in the automotive industry from internal combustion engines to eco-friendly vehicles. Under the goal of making this year the inaugural year of the electrification era, Hyundai Motor Group introduced dedicated electric vehicles such as the Ioniq 5, EV6, and GV60 for the first time, gaining significant attention in domestic and international markets and solidifying its position as a leader in the electrification era.

It is also meaningful that with increased sales in key regions such as North America and Europe, there is a possibility that Hyundai Motor Group could become the world's third-largest automotive group for the first time this year. Hyundai Motor recently streamlined its global organization by region in a recent organizational restructuring, forecasting even greater growth next year.

Hyundai Motor Group Opens the Door to the Electrification Era

This year, Hyundai Motor Group released three electric vehicles based on the dedicated platform (E-GMP): the Ioniq 5, EV6, and GV60. These three models, launched by Hyundai Motor Group under different brands, have brought significant changes to the domestic electric vehicle market, which had been dominated solely by Tesla until last year.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of new electric vehicle registrations for Hyundai Motor this year through October was 19,743, ranking first overall. Tesla ranked second with 16,291 units, and Kia was third with 13,504 units.

Electric vehicle sales in the global market also surged. Hyundai Motor and Kia sold a total of 224,267 electric vehicles domestically and overseas through November this year (65,952 units domestically + 158,315 units overseas), a 37% increase compared to the same period last year (163,116 units). This is the first time annual sales have exceeded 200,000 units.

Hyundai Motor Group is aiming to be among the top three global automakers for the first time this year, leveraging the expansion of electric vehicle sales. According to the automotive industry, Hyundai Motor Group's cumulative global sales through the third quarter of this year were approximately 5.05 million units, ranking fourth behind Volkswagen, Toyota, and Renault-Nissan. The gap with Renault-Nissan is small, so rankings could be reversed depending on fourth-quarter results.

Global Organization Restructured into Major Regional System

In last week's organizational restructuring, Hyundai Motor decided to change its global organization to a major regional system to enhance management efficiency, which is also a strategy to expand sales.

Until now, Hyundai Motor had established its global sales market organization with nine regional headquarters: Korea Business Division, Asia-Pacific, Hyundai Motor Group China (HMGC), Europe, Russia, India, and North and South America.

However, through the year-end organizational restructuring, Europe and Russia were merged to create the Europe-Russia major region, and North America and Central and South America were combined into the Americas major region. India and the Middle East were also merged into the India-Middle East major region. The number of regions was reduced from nine to six to facilitate management and improve efficiency.

This is interpreted as a move to strengthen regional responsibility management. Chairman Chung Euisun stated in last year's New Year's address, "Based on regional responsibility management, we must establish a profitability-centered business operation system, and the headquarters divisions should actively support this."

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