South Korea's largest automaker is poised to gain its EV presence in India. Hyundai Motor announced on August 8 that it plans to launch five EVs and increase charging infrastructure in the world's most populous country by 2032. Its engineering center in India will also conduct more mobility research to equip the company with advanced technologies.
Hyundai executive chair Euisun Chung and other officials visited the automaker's facilities in India on August 7 and met with the state government representatives of Tamil Nadu the next day.
According to an announcement, Hyundai has been reorganizing its automotive value chain with a focus on India, where it secures the No. 2 carmaker title. The company sold 502,821 units of vehicles from January to July 2023, increasing by 8.8% from last year.
India is the world's third-largest automotive market after China and the US. Its passenger car market is expected to surpass 5 million units by 2030. Hyundai said SUVs and EVs will drive the growth. India's EV sales are expected to achieve 1 million units by 2030.
According to Hyundai's plan, it will introduce five EV models to India by 2032. It aims to increase the number of charging stations to 439 by 2027. Hyundai said the company and its affiliate Kia plan to mass-produce EVs in India to grow their sales locally.
Kia will start making small EVs optimized for India in 2025 and gradually move on to other EV models and purpose-built vehicles. The company said it aims to grow its market share in the country from 6.7% in the first half of 2023 to 10% in the following years.
Hyundai said it will enhance the R&D capabilities at the Hyundai Motor India Engineering (HMIE) in Hyderabad. The facility works with the company's R&D center in South Korea to develop vehicles for India.
HMIE started to build a new test facility in 2022. Hyundai said HMIE will become the future mobility research hub concentrating on electrification, autonomous driving and the development of voice recognition technology in local Indian languages.
