Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Chung Eui-sun speaks during the company's annual New Year's speech in Seoul on January 6, 2025.
Hyundai Motor Group
South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group, controlled by billionaire Euisun Chung, is boosting domestic investment by 19% to a record 24.3 trillion won ($16.7 billion) as it battles sluggish domestic consumer confidence and U.S. trade uncertainty. enhance competitiveness.
Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Hyundai Motor Company and subsidiary Kia, announced on Thursday that it will spend 11.5 trillion won on the research and development of next-generation mobile technologies, including electrification, hydrogen-powered vehicles and connected cars. The company will also invest 12 trillion won to expand electric vehicle production lines and build related infrastructure. About 800 million won will be used for strategic investments such as autonomous driving.
Days earlier, executive chairman Chung warned of rising geopolitical and economic risks. US President-elect Trump has vowed to impose a 10% general tariff on global imports from the world's largest economy.
Meanwhile, South Korea's consumer confidence index hit its lowest level in more than two years in December, weighed down by political uncertainty following the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yeol. Hyundai Motor said that domestic sales in 2024 will decrease by 7.5% compared with the same period last year, and overseas sales will decrease by 0.5%.
“There is no need to be intimidated by the uncertainty of the future,” Chung said in Hyundai Motor's annual New Year's address on Monday. “Without challenge, we risk becoming complacent, which creates greater dangers.”
Hyundai Motor is the world's third-largest automaker, behind Japan's Toyota Motor and Germany's Volkswagen. The company said in March that it would allocate 68 trillion won over the next three years to promote the development of electric vehicles and hire an additional 80,000 new employees. Last week, Hyundai Motor Company's U.S. President Jose Munoz officially took over as the company's president and CEO.
