Alongside Executive Chair Chung, key executives from Hyundai Motor – including Jaehoon Chang, the President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, and Unsoo Kim, ManagingDirector and CEO of Hyundai Motor India – participated, in addition to 400 Hyundai Motor India employees.
Hyundai Motor India will start operating its Pune plant in the second half of next year. Located in Maharashtra, western India, the production facility was acquired from GM last year. Hyundai Motor is currently making improvements to the facility to create a production hub capable of building more than 200,000 units annually, using smart manufacturing technology and systems.
With the addition of the Chennai plant’s production capacity of 824,000 units, Hyundai Motor will have an annual production capacity of over one million units when combined with the Pune plant.
Kia India's yearly production capacity will also be expanded to 431,000 units within the first half of this year. Combined together, Hyundai Motor Group will have the ability to produce approximately 1.5 million units annually in India.
Hyundai Motor Group also plans to strengthen its EV leadership in the Indian EV market through its electrification strategy.
Hyundai Motor India plans to unveil its first locally produced EV in India next year and proactively respond to the growth of the Indian EV market. Starting with the mass production of its first electric SUV model at the Chennai plant at the end of2024, the company plans to further produce five EV models by 2030. Hyundai Motor India will also utilize its sales network hubs, expanding the number of EV charging stations to 485 by 2030.
Kia India will also start production of its local EV model in 2025 andplans to further expand its EV models. The company will also focus on building EV charging infrastructure.
Hyundai Motor and Kia recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Exide Energy Solutions Ltd., a leading Indian battery company, and are pursuing the local production of batteries for dedicated Indian EV models.
Hyundai Motor Group aims to expand its presence in the local EV market, by localising the production of EV batteries, which account for a significant portion of EV cost. This strategy will ensure price competitiveness in the price-sensitive Indian market.
In 2006, Hyundai Motor India established the Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) to support various social causes and has actively engaged in social responsibility activities. The company has engaged in environmental sustainability by planting 80,000 trees to protect forests and water resources .It is also recycling factory waste materials into desks and chairs as well as upcycling community waste with biogas and electricity. Hyundai has also addressed social challenges through mobile clinics, science libraries, and support for public vocational schools in India.
Since 2023, Kia India has also been promoting its ‘Green Workshop’ project, which evolves its sales offices into eco-friendly facilities. The solar panel powered facility optimizes water and energy usage extensively, which helps in meeting more than 80% of the energy requirements while powering an EV AC charging unit. The company is also running an economic self-reliance support program for women in India with projects to publicize the hazards of plastic waste and restore wilderness areas through planting trees.
Hyundai Motor Group has achieved strong growth over the past 28 years, since Hyundai Motor India first entered the Indian market in 1996.
In 2004 Hyundai Motor surpassed the 500,000-unit mark in just five years of sales,creating a significant achievement in the Indian market. The company reached one million units in 2007 and five million units in 2017, recording cumulative sales of 8.24 million units by the end of 2023.
After its first sale in India in 2019, Kia India also quickly grew into a brand that sells over 200,000 units annually, led by its SUV competitiveness.
For the January-March period this year, Hyundai Motor Group brands recorded combined sales of 225,686 vehicles, up 1.5 percent year over year. Hyundai Motor Group aims to achieve sales of around 890,000 units this year, a targeted 3.9 percent increase over 2023 performance of around 857,000 units combined in India.