{"id":57100,"date":"2025-10-06T04:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T04:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/57100\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T04:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T04:58:07","slug":"hyundai-ceo-on-designing-for-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/57100\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyundai CEO on designing for Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hyundai is probably one of South Korea\u2019s most globally recognisable brands, with only the likes of Samsung and LG<\/a> also vying for the title.<\/p>\n

The Hyundai Motor Group, which owns Kia and Genesis, first arrived in Europe in the late 1970s. However, it was only in 1997 that they opened their first production site outside of South Korea, in Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at personal cars we’re at 4% market share in Europe, we’re ranked number 10 on the market,\u201d said Xavier Martinet, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look back in time, 10-15 years ago we were at half this market share, so Hyundai has been growing over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their 58 years of business, the company has managed to produce more than 100 million units worldwide and its factory in Ulsan, South Korea, is the largest automotive production plant in the world.<\/p>\n

In this episode of The Big Question, Hannah Brown sat down with Xavier to discuss Hyundai\u2019s place in the European market and how it sees the future of automotive power.<\/p>\n

Aside from the production plant in Turkey, Hyundai has also been producing vehicles at a plant in No\u0161ovice, Czech Republic, since 2008. Together, the two sites have a production capacity of 560,000 units per year.<\/p>\n

According to Xavier, 79% of the vehicles sold by Hyundai in Europe in 2024 were produced in these two plants.<\/p>\n

However, the greater-than-predicted success of their smallest EV to date, the INSTER, produced in South Korea, is expected to roll that number back to 70% in 2025.<\/p>\n

While Xavier insists there\u2019s no third plant planned in Europe just yet, he suggested that regional success for the firm\u2019s newest releases could ignite a conversation around future investment.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Hyundai recently announced the Concept 3 car, an EV in its IONIQ range that\u2019s expected to hit the market early next year.<\/p>\n

Positioned in the B-segment, accompanied by the likes of the Ford Fiesta, the Renault Clio and the Peugeot 208, the compact Concept 3 underlines Hyundai\u2019s focus on offering EVs across all market segments\u2014according to Xavier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we see, for example, is that the EV mix is actually higher for fleet customers (who typically buy C- or D-segment vehicles), but retail buyers right now have a lower mix of EV. They still want to buy the old ones because either they don’t find the car they want or the price is too high,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is why for us targeting this lower part of the segment with strong EV propositions was fundamental.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hannah Hannah Brown chats to Xavier Martinet, CEO of Hyundai Motor Europe on The Big Question. – Euronews <\/p>\n

He also highlighted the need to tailor vehicles specifically to the European audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to develop products that are really taking into account European customers\u2019 needs, lifestyles, demands\u2014and the Concept 3 is a perfect illustration of that. When we do have global products, we need to calibrate them because you don’t drive on the German Autobahn like you drive on an Interstate in the US, so we need to be able to really adjust and fine-tune the vehicle characteristics so that vehicles satisfy the customers wherever they drive,\u201d Xavier told The Big Question.<\/p>\n

Despite targets to boost EV uptake and Hyundai\u2019s Concept 3 announcement, hybrid cars remain the most popular vehicle type<\/a> for new purchases in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers are usually keeping a car an average of six years in Europe. And for them to go directly from an internal combustion engine vehicle to an EV is an act of faith,\u201d Xavier explained.<\/p>\n

However, Hyundai isn’t putting all their eggs into one metaphorical EV basket. They\u2019re also leading innovation in the hydrogen-powered<\/a> vehicle world.<\/p>\n

\u201cEVs are one great way to electrify the car park, but we also have some questions about access to rare earth materials and whether these tensions will really change,\u201d Xavier said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it’s quite interesting to develop some kind of alternative that one day might become quite valuable as a compliment. So we’re not opposing the two, we’re just saying it’s good to have different solutions to decarbonise the car industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Right now, the hydrogen-powered vehicle market in Europe is virtually non-existent, with sales only in the hundreds. Cost and infrastructure are two of the main limitations, although Hyundai\u2019s US branch is working on solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re developing a car, bus, truck, and when you look at our plant in Savannah, Georgia in the US, we are also producing our own hydrogen. So, at the end of the day, you are not talking about one car, you talk about an ecosystem,\u201d Xavier explained.<\/p>\n

In a symbol of its commitment to diversifying power solutions, Hyundai has pledged to offer European customers an EV, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen powered version of each of their models by 2027.<\/p>\n

The Big Question<\/a> is a series from Euronews Business where we sit down with industry leaders and experts to discuss some of the most important topics on today\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

Watch the video above to see the full discussion with Hyundai\u2019s Xavier Martinet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hyundai is probably one of South Korea\u2019s most globally recognisable brands, with only the likes of Samsung and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,63,42826,2301,42825,42823,85,46,42827,11471,42824],"class_list":["post-57100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-europe","tag-hannah-brown","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-motor-europe","tag-hyundai-motor-group","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-production-plant","tag-south-korea","tag-xavier-martinet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}