Hyundai to launch an affordable & small EV for India

Electric vehicles are definitely the future of mobility. In the last couple of years, we have seen electric vehicles gaining popularity in India. There are several new players in the electric vehicle space. There are several manufactures who are working on new EVs. Some manufacturers are bringing their model that were already available internationally while some are developing new products for India. Hyundai is one such manufacturer. According to a report that has surfaced online, Hyundai is currently planning or working on an EV that will be launched in India. What makes this EV attractive is the fact that it will be a small EV and will be affordable as well.

According to a report by Reuters, Hyundai has started working on an affordable and small EV for India. The manufacturer will also be bringing more premium models to India in the future. Tarun Garg, director sales, marketing and service for Hyundai India said. “We have to look at as much localisation as possible.” This will be crucial for the manufacturer to keep the cost of the EV in check. He also mentioned that Hyundai is also working on various issues related to charging ecosystem, sales network and manufacturing.

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Tarun has not shared a timeline on when the new small electric car from Hyundai will be launched. The small EV program from Hyundai is actually a part of Hyundai’s broader plan to invest 40 billion rupees to launch six electric vehicles in  India by 2028. This initiative has been taken by the manufacturer to promote the electric vehicle culture and to control pollution from vehicles. Currently EVs account for less than 1 percent of total car sales in the country. Government is currently aiming to raise this share to 30 percent by 2030.

Tarun mentioned that in comparison to the internal combustion engine models, Hyundai will have a different approach for EVs. They would be launching the premium or expensive models first and will gradually come down the price chain. It should be noted that Hyundai is currently preparing to launch its Ioniq 5 electric crossover in India. The Ioniq 5 was spotted recently on our roads. The manufacturer has said that the Ioniq 5 will be a assembled here in India which means, it is expected to come at a price tag cheaper than that of Kia’s recently launched EV6.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a very popular EV internationally. It recently won the World Car of the Year and many other awards. It is built on the unique skateboard platform. The same platform is expected to used in future Hyundai EVs. Hyundai is expected to launch the Ioniq 5 in India during the festive season. Hyundai might introduce the 58 kWh battery version which powers the rear wheels. There is a possibility that Hyundai might bring the more powerful e-AWD version to India in limited numbers. Hyundai had launched the Kona EV in India back in 2019 as a CBU. The market was still warming up for EVs then and the price for Kona EV was too steep as well. Along with Hyundai, there are other manufacturers like Tata and Mahindra who are working on new electric cars.

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