Hyundai Motor(005380) raised its 2030 operating margin target to "9% or higher" even amid intensifying global competition. By 2030, it plans to launch more than 100 new models worldwide and expand global production capacity by 1.27 million units to deliver, without a hitch, the target of 5.55 million global sales units released last year. It plans to achieve cost-reduction innovation and secure future competitiveness through robotaxi foundry (contract manufacturing) and mass production of Autonomous Driving.
On Aug. 26, at the Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, Hyundai Motor held the "2026 CEO Investor Day" and announced mid- to long-term strategies and financial plans along these lines. In attendance were CEO (president) José Muñoz; Park Min-woo, Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) Deputy Minister (president) and CEO of 42dot; Kim Chang-hwan, electrification energy solutions head (executive vice president); and Lee Seung-jo, head of finance (executive vice president), among other key executives.
Hyundai Motor will maintain its mid- to long-term business goals released last year of 5.55 million global sales units in 2030 and a 60% share for electrified vehicles (xEV). Although the market environment is unstable due to geopolitical threats and intensifying competition from Chinese cars, it judged that Hyundai Motor's competitiveness in the finished car business remains solid. In fact, hybrid (HEV) sales in the first half of this year (January–June) reached 363,000 units, up 18% from a year earlier, while revenue during the same period (95.2 trillion won) hit a record high.
This year's operating margin target will remain at 6.3%–7.3%. Furthermore, the 2030 operating margin target on a consolidation basis was raised from the previous 8%–9% to 9% or higher. The total size of operating profit is also expected to increase by 11%. To that end, the cost of sales ratio will be reduced by 3 percentage points by 2030 compared with the initial plan. It plans to cut 1.5 percentage points through vehicle life-cycle cost innovation, 1 percentage point through material cost reductions, and 0.5 percentage point through localization-driven cost savings.
President Muñoz said, "Hyundai Motor's fundamentals are stronger than ever," adding, "We will launch more models, offer customers more powertrain choices, and aggressively enter new segments and new markets." He also emphasized, "Based on strategic partnerships, we will advance future technologies, create new opportunities, and transform into a physical artificial intelligence (AI) corporations that produces and deploys robots and robotaxis."
◇ Launching more than 100 new models by 2030… targeting a 50% HEV share in North America
By 2030, Hyundai Motor plans to launch more than 100 new models (full and partial changes, derivatives, etc.) in global markets. It will launch global new cars based on a universal platform and expand into regional derivatives or specialized models. More than 18 will be entirely new vehicles in segments where there were no existing models on sale.
To back this up, global production capacity will be expanded by 1.27 million units by 2030: 500,000 in North America, 320,000 in India, 200,000 in Korea, and 250,000 in completely knocked down (CKD) production.
By region, in North America, led by the Genesis "GV80 Hybrid," it will launch 10 new HEV models by 2030 and achieve a 50% HEV sales mix. Starting in the first half of next year, it will sell the "Santa Fe extended-range electric vehicle (EREV)" in the U.S. market. An EREV provides virtually the same driving experience as an electric vehicle (EV) in everyday use while easing charging concerns, because when the battery charge is low, a small engine acting as a generator charges the battery.
In Europe, it will expand EV sales to 420,000 units by 2030, nearly quadruple last year's 116,000 units in Europe. In India, it will raise the share of sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales to 80% by 2030. To do so, it will launch new locally strategized SUVs. By 2030, it aims to achieve more than 90% local parts sourcing to strengthen cost competitiveness and increase the export share to as much as 30% over the same period.
In China, to recover performance, it will launch two new models next year, including a small electric SUV and a dual EV/EREV model. Muñoz said, "China is where we have production facilities and is a good place to export from," adding, "Of the 320,000-unit production capacity, exports accounted for only 20% last year, but that will rise to 30% going forward." He also said, "About 500,000 units in sales are possible in China, and we can go beyond the break-even point (BEP)."
Korea will be reborn as a manufacturing innovation hub. The new Ulsan EV plant will implement AI-based quality control and inspections and operate as a software-defined factory (SDF) by introducing 108 advanced production technologies. To this end, Ulsan Plants 1 and 4 will begin reconstruction next year.
In addition, Genesis will enter Spain in the fourth quarter of this year and expand to five more European countries next year—Austria, Denmark, Poland and Portugal. It plans to broaden its reach to India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets and achieve sales of 350,000 units in about 40 countries worldwide by 2030.
◇ "Atlas" to be deployed in the field in 2028, "level 2+" Autonomous Driving to be installed in mass-production cars
To ensure future competitiveness, it will first strengthen the robotaxi business. In the fourth quarter, it will supply Waymo with robotaxis based on the "Ioniq 5" produced at the Meta Plant (HMGMA) in Georgia, U.S. Hyundai Motor plans to expand foundry operations in the Autonomous Driving vehicle field going forward. Motional, Hyundai Motor's Autonomous Driving joint venture, will commercialize the Ioniq 5 robotaxi by the end of this year and push to expand operations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region as well.
Commercialization of manufacturing AI Robotics technology, developed in collaboration with Boston Dynamics, will also accelerate. Hyundai Motor opened the Robot Meta Plant Application Center (RMAC) in the U.S. in June and plans to expand the RMAC site to 10 times its current size by year-end. Starting in 2028, Hyundai Motor will deploy the industrial Humanoid Robot "Atlas" in the field at HMGMA.
Hyundai Motor said it is focusing on building a "data virtuous-cycle system" for software-defined vehicle (SDV) technology. This structure cycles through ▲ data collection ▲ data analysis ▲ AI/service improvement ▲ fixes through over-the-air (OTA) updates. Autonomous Driving technology is also securing data in the same structure, with AI learning from it and advancing itself. To that end, it is standardizing groupwide sensor systems based on the Nvidia ecosystem.
The roadmap for commercializing Autonomous Driving was also unveiled. By year-end, it will deploy the Autonomous Driving AI "Atria AI" in Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Jeolla, to directly secure data on unexpected situations, which is essential to advancing Autonomous Driving models. In 2028, through strategic collaboration with Nvidia, it will apply level 2 plus Autonomous Driving technology to the first SDV mass-production model. This allows driving in certain environments such as highways with the driver's hands off the steering wheel.
After that, in 2029, it will expand the application of Atria AI to mass-production vehicles and aims to build a full Autonomous Driving lineup from level 2 plus to level 4. President Park Min-woo said, "There will be no more delays in SDV releases (launches)."
Starting in 2029, when Autonomous Driving data begins to surge, the Saemangeum AI data center will also go into operation. The Saemangeum data center is a 100 MW-class facility capable of accommodating more than 50,000 graphics processing units (GPUs). A Hyundai Motor official said, "We plan to organically connect data accumulated on the basis of a global mass-production system, in-house AI, and the infrastructure supporting it to strengthen SDV and Autonomous Driving competitiveness."
Hyundai Motor also plans to secure competitiveness in batteries, which are essential for electrification. It recently developed in-house a battery cell that delivers more than double the output performance of conventional high-nickel batteries while cutting charging time by 40%, and it will apply this high-performance battery to the EREV launching in the first half of next year. For the EV volume model launching next year, it will equip mid-nickel NCM batteries (nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary) that reduce costs while maintaining optimal driving performance, and by 2028 it aims to improve average battery life by 20%.