Hyundai wants to conquer China with cheap electric cars

If Chinese manufacturers want to conquer foreign markets, foreign manufacturers want the same, carving out a place in the Sun in the world's largest car market.

This time it is Hyundai that tells how it wants to increase sales in the country of the Dragon, where it is very difficult to make inroads due to fierce domestic competition, where everything - or almost everything - hinges on the ability to offer low-cost electric vehicles.

An inexorable decline in sales

Let's take a step back. According to the latest figures released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 1.29 million so-called NEV (New energy vehicles) were sold in China in September this year alone, i.e. vehicles equipped with an electric, electrified or otherwise low-emission powertrain. This result is a good snapshot of the situation, with +17% compared to August and +42% compared to September 2023.

In short, electrics are flying in China, and it is doing so at the expense of combustion vehicles, which for the second month in a row have been overtaken in sales by electric cars, which now have a 51.8% share. Chinese manufacturers in particular have taken advantage of this situation, while other manufacturers, from Toyota to Honda, via Volkswagen, GM and Hyundai itself, have seen their sales drop. Hyundai, specifically, stopped at a market share of 1.2% in September, a very small percentage, the result of a volume contraction that began way back in 2017. How to get out of the crisis? Now it's back to the present.

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Affordable price, but lots of technology

Hyundai has made it known that it wants to launch electric cars designed and produced specifically for the Chinese market. To do so, it has also set up an independent R&D centre called Hyundai Motor China Advanced Tech and R&D, based in Shanghai. It will be from there that the Korean manufacturer will lead its grand return to the Asian country.

Hyundai's idea is to create a range that meets the needs and tastes of Chinese motorists. The first model in this project will see the light of day next year. It will be sold exclusively in China, will be built on a possibly new platform and will feature an innovative design and a range of state-of-the-art technologies. But, thanks to the creation of a network of local suppliers and on-site production, it will also be reasonably priced.

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