Hyundai Targets Ev Sales of over Half a Million by 2025

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor pledged to boost sales of Electric Vehicles (EV) to over half a million by 2025 as part of a bid to focus on new technologies and catch up with rivals, but some analysts saw the target as conservative and warned of the costs. The announcement by Hyundai, the world’s fifth largest car maker along with affiliate Kia Motors underscores the accelerating strategy shift under Euisun Chung who became the motor group’s executive vice chairman last year.

Hyundai announced a $35 billion investment last week in mobility and other auto technologies by 2025, less than a month after unveiling a $1.6 billion deal to develop self-driving vehicle technologies with Aptiv.

The firm said on Thursday it plans to launch 16 EV models by 2025 to boost sales of such vehicles 17-fold to 560,000 by that year.

Still, that would be equivalent to just over 10% of its projected global sales this year. The projection compares with more bullish forecasts offered by its bigger rivals. Volkswagen AG expects to make 22 million EVs over the next decade, while General Motors aims to sell 1 million EVs annually by 2026.

Hyundai said, that the EV market would face intensifying competition and oversupply soon and automakers failing to meet toughening European emissions regulations will face heavy penalties and suffer a serious blow to their reputation.

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