"We will launch more models, offer customers more powertrain choices, and move aggressively into new vehicle segments and new markets."
Hyundai Motor (005380) President José Muñoz laid out a broad growth roadmap for investors and analysts at the 2026 CEO Investor Day, held on the 26th at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul's Yeouido district. Hyundai Motor's global sales in the first half came to 1,966,267 vehicles, down 4.9% from 2,066,993 a year earlier. Revenue hit a record 95.15 trillion won, but the operating margin fell to 5.6% from 7.8% a year earlier, weakening the earnings structure. The company needs a decisive move to reverse the trend.
Hyundai Motor chose to go on the offensive. The automaker will introduce more than 100 new vehicles worldwide over the five years through 2030, including full and partial redesigns and derivative models. More than 18 of those will be all-new vehicles in segments where the company currently has no offerings.
In North America, its largest market, the company will launch 10 new hybrid models by 2030, led by the recently unveiled Genesis GV80 hybrid, and raise the hybrid share of sales to 50%. Starting in the first half of next year, it will sell extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) versions of the Santa Fe and a Genesis sport utility vehicle. An EREV pairs an electric powertrain driven by a battery and electric motor with a gasoline engine that serves as a backup generator. The Genesis EREV SUV is expected to travel more than 1,000 kilometers on a single fill and charge.
In Europe, the company will raise battery electric vehicle (EV) sales to 420,000 units by 2030, nearly four times the 116,000 EVs it sold in Europe last year. In India, it will lift the sport utility vehicle (SUV) share of sales to 80% by 2030 and localize more than 90% of parts. In China, following the Ioniq V unveiled in the first half, it will launch a small electric SUV next year along with a compact model available as either an EV or an EREV. Its Chinese unit also plans to raise sales, including exports, to 500,000 units by 2030.
To support the aggressive rollout, Hyundai Motor will expand its global production capacity, now about 5 million units, by 1.27 million units by 2030. The plan calls for 500,000 units in North America, 320,000 in India, 200,000 in South Korea and 250,000 in complete knock-down (CKD) production. The company is keeping its medium- to long-term targets of 5.55 million vehicles in global sales and a 60% share for electrified models by 2030. It raised its 2030 operating margin target to 9% or higher, from a previous 8% to 9%.
In 2028, through a strategic partnership with Nvidia, Hyundai Motor will roll out its first mass-produced software-defined vehicle (SDV) equipped with Level 2+ autonomous driving technology. Level 2+ is a driver-assistance system that allows hands-off driving under specific conditions, such as on highways, with the driver still supervising. The company then plans to gradually extend its autonomous driving artificial intelligence, called Atria AI, across mass-produced vehicles, building a full lineup that reaches Level 4.
To handle the sharp increase in autonomous driving data, the company will begin operating the Saemangeum AI data center in 2029. The 100-megawatt facility is being built to house more than 50,000 graphics processing units (GPUs).
Hyundai Motor will also supply Waymo with Ioniq 5-based robotaxis produced at its Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Georgia in the fourth quarter. Motional, its autonomous driving joint venture, will handle commercialization of the Ioniq 5 robotaxi. The move reflects a push to expand foundry, or contract manufacturing, business in autonomous vehicles.
In robotics, the company opened RMAC, an AI robot training center in the United States, in June and will expand the site to about 10 times its current size by the end of the year. From 2028, it will deploy the humanoid robot Atlas at HMGMA for actual operations. "Based on strategic partnerships, we will advance future technologies and create new opportunities," Muñoz said. "We will reinvent ourselves as a physical AI company that produces and deploys robots and robotaxis."
