From climber to cleaner

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Anyone allowed to design today’s best-selling model at British luxury automaker Bentley has climbed to the top. If you think so. But for SangYup Lee (53), the XL SUV Bentayga was just a way station. The Korean has been responsible for Hyundai’s global design since 2016 and has been fundamentally changing it ever since, starting with the compact SUV Tucson and its illuminated front. At the end of February, he won the global title of “Car People of the Year” 2023. No one at Bentley did that.

Lee is one of Hyundai’s new faces, along with lead developer Chung Kook Park. Over the last decade, immigrants from Europe have shaped the South Korean automaker. Former Audi stylist Peter Schreyer (70), ex-Lamborghini savior Luc Donckerwolke (57) or ex-BMW developer Albert Biermann (66) shaped the brand according to European taste and local driving characteristics. While Hyundai is still seen as a cheap brand for people who don’t care what car they drive when it was launched in Switzerland 33 years ago, the automaker has an image of an innovator today.

Technologically open instead of all-electric

Hyundai remains open to technology as Europe’s auto industry jumps wholeheartedly towards electromobility and launches a race for the fastest way to phase out combustion engines. Eleven new electrified models are planned by 2030, and by 2035 most models in Brazil and India will also be electrified. Of course, in Europe internal combustion engines will be phased out by 2035, but that puts the brand under the European Union (EU) combustion engine ban. “We must not forget our customers in Central and Eastern Europe,” says Michael Cole, 58, Hyundai’s European boss. “There is no charging infrastructure there yet.” Hyundai will continue to develop internal combustion engines and hybrid or plug-in hybrid models “as long as customers still demand it.” However, Hyundai is ahead of schedule when it comes to the transition to electric drives. One in five Hyundais sold in Switzerland is a Stromer. “It is quite possible that before 2035 we will only use electric vehicles in Europe.”

What about synthetic e-fuels? Cole waves his hand. The person observes the subject, but has no role in the planning. Especially for hydrogen, which he believes will have a long-term chance with battery electric vehicles. Not only in trucks, but also in cars, as in the Swiss H2 mobility project. But based on the experiences of the corona pandemic, the localization of production is currently in the foreground. “We may have met the disruptions in supply chains caused by the corona epidemic and the Ukraine war better than some of our competitors. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t had difficulties,” says Cole. Hyundai has been producing in Nošovice, Czech Republic since 2006. In the future, Stromer should also pull off the assembly line in Europe, including its own battery production. This shortens supply chains and It creates more capacity that Hyundai needs: At the end of 2022, the order books were significantly fuller than at the end of 2021.

Hyundai wants to be in the top 3

Still, the numbers are correct: The brand achieved a 4.6 percent market share in Europe, with sales of approximately 520,000 cars in 2022. Nearly four million Hyundais were sold worldwide and profits rose to CHF 5.94 billion. One reason: more real prices in Europe. The years before the pandemic were characterized by wars of overcapacity and discounting. “The market is healthier now,” says Cole. At the same time, price increases, especially for electric models, could not be avoided due to the large increase in raw material costs.

When it comes to new models, Hyundai is going two ways: after the Ioniq 5 (see box) and the newly launched Ioniq 6 electric sedan, there’s a large SUV called the Ioniq 7, formerly shown as the Seven Concept. to work. What they all have in common is 800 volt battery technology for short charging times. Hyundai has access to this technology thanks to its ten percent investment in Croatian electricity supplier Rimac. There are also regular 400-volt electric vehicles such as the new Kona, which will launch in the fall and will come in internal combustion and hybrid versions as well. From 2025, a new electric platform will be used for all future models. Hyundai plans to invest more than CHF 16.6 billion in e-mobility by 2030, with around 1.5 million electric vehicles per year, which will rise to third place in the e-car world.

It’s unlikely that Cole could walk away without fulfilling one of his heart’s desires. It sees the continued existence of smaller models in particular threatened by the new Euro 7 emissions standard. It won’t be possible with current models until 2025, and will require expensive technology that is likely to cross the price range for small cars: “A small Stromer for Europe – that would be anything.”

Source: Blick