Hyundai is doing good business with electric cars and there’s a lot more in the pipeline. We ask Michael Cole, CEO of Hyundai Europe, how that success came about and what else we can expect from his brand.
Is your Korean background an advantage during the chip crisis?
“I think we have been less affected than many other brands. This has to do with connections, suppliers and related companies. Of course we also suffer from the chip shortage, but we manage. It is also a matter of being smart about what you emphasize, which markets you should serve first with which models at what time.”
Both Kia and Hyundai are doing very well with EVs, also in the Netherlands. What is the secret of that success?
“Haha, we were there much earlier than most people think. In 1991 there was already an electric Sonata. Thirty years ago! But no joke: our big step was the first Ioniq in 2016, which we released as a plug-in, fully electric and hybrid. This already provided us with a certain foothold in that market. The electric Kona was added in 2019. As a result, we were a strong player in the EV market fairly early on. I think the fact that we are a relatively young brand – since 1967, unlike some European brands for over a century – played to our advantage. Because we didn’t have that much history when we started with electric, it was more quickly associated with us by the public. The momentum came early, and now we’re moving forward with the Ioniq 5, the modular global electric platform, 800-volt charging and extras like vehicle-to-grid. We’re proving that we’ve moved on to the next level and I’m sure many of our competitors are getting a little nervous about the technology we have. It was already a difficult year for the industry, 2020, because that was the first year that we had to meet the CO2 targets. We had to rely almost entirely on our EVs, because we had no plug-in hybrids except for those few Ioniqs. That was another motivation for us to invest heavily in electric cars. Now we are reaping the benefits, because our PHEV and hybrid sales are also growing rapidly, on top of the EVs. Last year we had the largest share of electric cars in Europe of all volume brands, at 30 percent.”
Hyundai Nexo
How will you consolidate that position?
“The Ioniq 5 is the first step towards that, with the new E-GMP platform, and several models will follow, such as the Ioniq 6, which we showed a study in Munich, and later a larger SUV. This gives the Ioniq brand a very strong position in battery-electric. But at the same time, we also continue to believe in hydrogen as part of the long-term solution. That’s why the Nexo is so important to us. We are now working on our third-generation fuel cell, because we see it as an opportunity to look further ahead.”
Most manufacturers no longer believe in hydrogen for passenger cars. Why does Hyundai see it differently?
“There are a few more like us. I do believe in it. Of course, it primarily concerns company cars, and we do a lot with them. In Switzerland we have had 46 vehicles on the road at various companies for a year now. The bottleneck is, of course, the lack of refueling facilities and we are therefore involved in installing them. The road to hydrogen in passenger cars is even longer, but many governments believe in hydrogen. Please note: if you use green hydrogen, it is the cleanest fuel imaginable. You make hydrogen from water with wind or sun. The fact that many countries want to invest in this gives us confidence that the necessary infrastructure will eventually be created. So also for passenger cars. Initially the larger models, but who knows what will follow. If you had said a few years ago that all-electric cars would take 7.8 percent of the market by 2021, you would have been laughed at. So why not hydrogen? It is the ideal clean fuel.”
Michael Cole, CEO Hyundai Europe
Many brands stop with the A-segment. How do you see that in the long run?
“We will stay there, the A-segment is part of our modeling strategy. In many markets, and certainly also in the Netherlands, the i10 is the model with which new buyers enter our brand. That car is important to us. Of course we keep our finger on the pulse and things like Euro 7 are a challenge for this segment, but we have to make sure we can handle it. For the time being, the i10, i20 and i30 are successful models, but we do see a shift in the mix towards SUVs and of course electric cars.”
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl