- Hyundai is planning to launch dozens of new or refreshed models in North America.
- That includes Hyundai and Genesis extended range electric vehicles with over 600 miles of range.
- It will begin delivering Ioniq 5 robotaxis to Waymo in the fourth quarter of this year.
Hyundai will launch 58 new or refreshed models in North America by 2030, the automaker said at its 2026 CEO Investor Day in Seoul on Wednesday. Chief among them will be the new Santa Fe extended-range electric vehicle, which will offer more than 600 miles of combined range on a full battery charge and a single tank of gasoline.
EREVs are making a comeback this decade as the growth of fully electric vehicles hits reset, particularly in the U.S. These vehicles combine a large high-voltage battery pack and electric drive units that power the wheels with a gasoline engine that acts as a generator to recharge the battery. The idea is to eliminate much of the range anxiety associated with EVs while still delivering an electric driving experience. EREVs could also make more sense for buyers who regularly tow or haul heavy loads over long distances.
Photo by: Hyundai
The Santa Fe EREV will arrive next year and will be manufactured here in the U.S. at Hyundai’s plant in Alabama. Sister brand Kia has similar plans. It will launch the Telluride EREV in 2029, followed by an extended-range pickup truck in 2030. Genesis will also launch an EREV SUV before the end of the decade with more than 640 miles of range, the automaker said.
The U.S. is about to see an influx of EREVs, with models including the next-generation Ford F-150 Lightning, Ram 1500 REV and Jeep Grand Wagoneer expected to join the growing segment. But the addition of a combustion engine to alleviate range anxiety is an all but proven approach. It’s unclear if the market will welcome yet another powertrain type while it’s already undergoing a learning curve with EVs.
What might help more to address concerns around range anxiety is Hyundai’s work on battery technology. Hyundai said its EREVs will use its own high-nickel battery cells. The automaker claims the cells will reduce charging times by 40% while allowing the vehicles to use less than half the battery capacity of a comparable EV to deliver similar performance and driving characteristics.
Photo by: Hyundai
Hyundai EVs arriving next year will also switch to mid-nickel battery cells, which the automaker says will reduce costs by 30% without sacrificing performance. Hyundai also announced a new Thermal Runaway Protection system that will debut on an unnamed Genesis model. The system uses a new barrier structure between individual cells to prevent a fire from spreading through the battery pack, containing it locally around the point where it occurs.
On the autonomy front, Hyundai appears to have grand ambitions. It said it will begin delivering its Ioniq 5 robotaxis to Waymo in the fourth quarter of this year. Its Motional robotaxi division will also begin its own driverless Ioniq 5 ride-hailing service by the end of the year. Its first ever software-defined vehicle will arrive in 2028 and use a standardized sensor platform built around the Nvidia ecosystem. Robotaxis require tremendous amounts of real-world data for training, and for that Hyundai is building a new 100-megawatt AI data center in Korea with more than 50,000 GPUs.
Photo by: Hyundai
Hyundai’s global product push is even more aggressive. The automaker plans to launch 49 new or refreshed models in Korea, 41 in Europe, 26 in India, and 22 in China by the end of the decade.
Europe will also get the smaller Ioniq 3 starting this month, with an estimated WLTP range of about 500 miles. The model will also debut Hyundai’s next-generation Pleos Connect in-car infotainment platform.
Hyundai is promising a lot, but it’s hardly alone. Automakers are increasingly expanding beyond simply building cars, with their ambitions now spanning everything from EVs and autonomous driving to in-house batteries, robotics and even AI data centers. The definition of what it means to be a car company keeps expanding every year.
Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
