Hyundai plots US model expansion, doubled sales in China

Hyundai Chief Executive Jose Muñoz told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on 26 March that the automaker plans to launch 36 new models in North America by 2030—up from the 25 it currently sells. He also said the automaker aims to more than double annual China sales to 500,000 units over the medium term. 

The US targets are underpinned by a US$26bn investment commitment covering production expansion, developing its regional supply chain, and technology partnerships with players including Nvidia, Waymo, and Google DeepMind. North America remains Hyundai’s most profitable market, and in-keeping with local trends the 36-model figure will encompass a range of powertrains across the same base models.

Extended-range electric vehicles boasting a range of more than 600 miles will arrive in the US from 2027, and a first body-on-frame midsize pickup truck is planned before 2030. The latter marks a deliberate push into the segment that generates the highest margins for US-based and US-focused automakers. General Motors notably ships some of its highest-margin offerings in this segment from Korea; Hyundai will take the opposite approach by localising its production for these planned models instead of making them at its native factories.

Hyundai’s Georgia Metaplant, which opened in March 2025 and currently produces the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9, will add hybrid production this year and prototype Waymo-equipped Ioniq 5 models. The plant generated headlines later that year when it was raided by ICE border agents and 450 of its workers subsequently arrested. The Korean government warned that the incident might impact its plans to invest in the US; such tensions appear to have largely cooled off in the intervening time. 

China is framed as the other major growth ambition, despite the steep challenges facing virtually all global players with a presence in the market. To meet its double-sales target, Hyundai plans to launch 20 new models through the back half of the decade, beginning with the Elexio electric SUV it introduced in October 2025. A C-segment electric sedan is set to follow. 

The 500,000-unit target compares with current volumes of around 220,000—a sharp decline from its peak year of 2016, during which it sold 1.16 million units. The automaker is among those most severely impacted by the surging popularity of domestic electric vehicle brands.

The broader strategy frames tariff disruption as an opportunity rather than a constraint—an optimistic framing that Muñoz has maintained consistently since taking the reins in January 2025. North American sales rose 8% to 1.2 million units last year despite a 15% US tariff on imported vehicles, driven by healthy demand for the Tucson, Elantra, Santa Fe, and Ioniq 5, all of which set annual sales records. The company wants 80% of the vehicles it sells in the US to be manufactured locally by 2030, up from roughly 50% at present. 

Technology is increasingly central to Munoz’s pitch to investors. It is attempting a play for software-defined vehicle leadership on a variety of fronts, unveiling its Pleos software brand in March 2025. The automaker has also locked in plans to use 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips to improve its manufacturing and vehicle AI. Other plans include scaling Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot toward 30,000 units of annual production capacity by 2028, and maintaining partnerships across autonomous driving via 42dot, Motional, and Waymo.