Hyundai Motor CEO, Chang Jae-hoon, told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting the key aim this year was to improve BEV price competitiveness worldwide to help offset sluggish sales and rising competition from overseas brands.
Chang said the automaker was working on strengthening supply chains and optimising manufacturing to improve efficiency as competition from Chinese brands continues to intensify while consumers were also increasingly reluctant to pay high prices.
He outlined the main objectives for 2024 which include increasing BEV “technological competitiveness”, improving design and process innovation, developing a more effective vehicle model line and speeding up the software defined vehicle (SDV) strategy.
The CEO said Hyundai planned to establish a new business headquarters responsible for advanced vehicle platforms to accelerate development of SDVs, adding: “all our vehicles will eventually be SDVs."
Chang said: “With deepening global economic volatility and rapidly weakening consumer demand for EVs, we expect tough business conditions this year."
The automaker would still proceed with existing mid- and large battery-powered vehicle plans including the launch of the Ioniq 7 SUV delayed until December.
