Another sector of the Korean defense industry could be receiving some work in the near future in the United States:
The world’s largest shipbuilder, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. of Ulsan, South Korea, has signed a deal to seek U.S. government shipbuilding and maintenance contacts in alliance with Philly Shipyard Inc., which employs around 1,000 at the former Philadelphia Navy Yard site in South Philadelphia.
An agreement to “explore a potential business relationship” for government work was signed April 12 by Won ho Joo, chief executive of HD Hyundai’s naval and special ships unit, and Steinar Nerbovik, who has run the Philly yard since 2014 on behalf of its owner, Norway-based Aker ASA. The deal announced this week follows a February visit by U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro to Korean shipyards where he invited owners to invest in U.S. shipyards to build for military and civilian clients.
It looks like Hyundai is understanding that the vast majority of consumers do not want to drive an EV. I have always said the focus should be on plug in hybrid because the range anxiety is a real thing when it comes to EVs:
Hyundai Motor will boost sales of its hybrid cars and SUVs as part of its key strategy to ensure profitable growth amid falling sentiment for electric vehicles (EV), the company said Thursday during a conference call.
The decision came as demand for hybrid vehicles is on the gradual rise, after the global EV industry entered a chasm this year. The company displayed the vision after disclosing a slight fall in its first-quarter operating profit.
In a regulatory filing, the carmaker reported an operating profit of 3.55 trillion won ($2.58 billion) in the first quarter, down 2.3 percent from the previous year, hit by an overall sales fall. The company, however, generated robust sales of 40.65 trillion won, up 7.6 percent during the same period.
The company said it will place its management focus on defending its profitability by widening sales for hybrid vehicles and SUVs, at a critical juncture when the global EV industry shows no immediate signs of a rebound.
HD Hyundai wins 640 bln-won warship contract in Peru This photo, provided by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, shows a rendering of warships for the Peruvian Navy, which the South Korean shipbuilder will build jointly with Peru’s state-run Shipyard Marine Industrial Services under a 640.6 billion-won (US$463 million) contract, signed in Lima on April 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
Hyundai EV factory in U.S.This photo, provided by the office of the Georgia governor on Feb. 26, 2024, shows Hyundai Motor Co.’s electric vehicle plant under construction in the U.S. state of Georgia. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Hyundai breaks ground for EV-only plant This rendering, provided by the Hyundai-Kia automotive group, shows an electric vehicle plant, whose groundbreaking ceremony took place at a Hyundai plant in Ulsan, 299 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Nov. 13, 2023. (Yonhap)
According to the article the invasion of Ukraine has cost Hyundai $374 million in lost sales in Russia:
Hyundai Motor’s plant in St. Petersburg, Russia / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor
Hyundai Motor saw its sales plunge to an all-time low in Russia last month, according to the Association of European Business (AEB), Sunday.
The association said Hyundai Motor sold only six vehicles in August, which accounts for 0.01 percent of the Russian market share, down 99.9 percent from 2,982 cars a year earlier.
“I’m not quite sure if the company managed to sell even six,” an automobile industry official said. “It is virtually kicking the dirt there.”
The carmaker sold 1,605 cars in Russia during the first eight months this year, a 96.5 percent-drop from the same period last year. The largely botched business this year allowed the company just 0.4 percent of the Russian market share.
Hyundai’s lackluster performance is as dramatic as its former prominence in the market before the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in February last year. With its factory in St. Petersburg ― the only one in Russia ― pipelining 220,000 vehicles each year, including popular models like Solaris and Creta, its market share in the country used to be top over all.
But the invasion upended business for Hyundai’s Russian office. While rival foreign brands there vacated the country, Hyundai remained and kept producing cars until July 2022. At the end of that year, the company had sold 45,000 cars. Since 2012, the company sold over 200,000 cars annually.
Hyundai’s Russian factory finally gave up and ceased manufacturing operations this year.
The IRA may have the intended effect of forcing foreign manufacturers such as Hyundai to increase U.S. based manufacturing and getting rid of their Chinese batteries:
Hyundai Motor Group is facing an uphill battle in the U.S. market for electric vehicles (EV), because its car brands ― Hyundai Motor, Kia and Genesis ― were not included on a list of EVs eligible for up to $7,500 in subsidies granted by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to industry officials, Tuesday.
Previously, EVs could qualify for the tax credit as long as they were assembled in North America, but they had to meet stricter battery requirements.
However, detailed guidance measures released last month guarantee only a $3,750 subsidy for EVs that use at least 50 percent of battery components manufactured and assembled in North America, even if the vehicles were assembled in the region. Another $3,750 is available when at least 40 percent of key minerals used in the batteries are mined and processed in the U.S. or its free trade agreement partners.
Under the detailed guidelines of the IRA, EVs manufactured by Hyundai did not make the list. The Electrified GV70, an SUV model of the group’s luxury brand Genesis, was also excluded as it is equipped with Chinese batteries.
In addition to Hyundai Motor Group’s EVs, other brands such as Nissan, which was eligible for the subsidy because it has factories in North America, were also dropped from the list. The eligible cars are made by American brands such as Tesla, Ford, GM and Stellantis.
In response, Hyundai Motor Group said it plans to increase EV production in the U.S. over the long term, aiming to become a leader in the market for such vehicles. The group added it will actively utilize lease sales that qualify for tax credits.
This is another reason why something needs to be done about illegal immigration, to stop the exploitation of children:
Vehicles are loaded onto train cars at the Kia assembly plant in West Point, Georgia, U.S., Dec. 12. Reuters-Yonhap
At least four major suppliers of Hyundai Motor and sister Kia have employed child labor at Alabama factories in recent years, a Reuters investigation found, and state and federal agencies are probing whether kids have worked at as many as a half dozen additional manufacturers throughout the automakers’ supply chain in the southern U.S. state.
At a plant owned by Hwashin America, a supplier to the two car brands in the south Alabama town of Greenville, a 14-year-old Guatemalan girl worked this May assembling auto body components, according to interviews with her father and law enforcement officials. (……)
Earlier this year, Reuters showed how staffing agencies in rural Alabama recruited undocumented workers from Central America, including minors who had entered the U.S. without parents or guardians, and supplied them to chicken processing plants.
As with those minors, at least some of the children who worked at Hyundai suppliers used false identities and documentation obtained through black-market brokers, sometimes with the help of staffing firms themselves.
Hyundai Motor’s Kona EV catches fire while charging its battery at a charging station in Namyangju, about 20 kilometers east of Seoul, on Oct. 17, 2020, in this photo provided by the Namyangju City Fire Station.
Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it will replace batteries in some 82,000 Kona EV and two other electric vehicles sold globally due to potential fire risks, which could cost about 1 trillion won (US$899.7 million).
Hyundai will begin the replacement of the battery management system (BMS) in 75,680 Kona EVs, 5,716 IONIQ EV and 305 Elec City buses from March 29 in the domestic market and from April in overseas markets, the company said in a statement.
