Hyundai Motor Co wants a share in the electric car boom in India, the company is reportedly developing a new small electric car exclusively for the subcontinent even though its top priority is to bring more and more premium models to the country as per Reuters.

Hyundai will also focus on manufacturing EVs locally:

The South Korean Motor Company’s departments are all working on an array of issues ranging from the ecosystem, sales network, manufacturing, and the kind of assembly process the carmaker needs to have. As per Tarun Garg, director of sales, marketing, and service for Hyundai India, stated in an interview.

“We have to look at as much localization as possible,” he added indicating that the company is emphasizing a priority on producing components locally to keep the costs down. The timeline of when the car will launch is still under wraps but Garg has said the timing has to be right “so we are able to bring it at the right price. The ecosystem should be ready, we should have enough charging.”

The small EV is a part of Hyundai’s plans to invest nearly 40 billion rupees or $512 million USD to bring in six new electric cars in India by 2028. It is looking to make a clean driving push in the country.

As of now, electric vehicles account for less than 1% of total car sales but it is expected to go up to 30% by 2030 due to the government pushing their sales and increasing fuel costs. Hyundai will launch some premium models in EVs starting with the Ioniq 5 electric crossover this year and then it will introduce cheaper models.

The Ioniq 5 has a range of 480 KMS at is priced at 34,30,000 rupees in the USA. “When it was about cars with internal combustion engines, we had this bottoms-up approach. In electric, we are trying the top-down approach,” Garg stated adding that for mass-market EVs to do well, there has to be a good charging network across the country and battery prices need to be low.

In 2019, Hyundai launched its Kona EV in India, in order to test the market, but sales were below average as the pricing and public charging infrastructure were not the best. The lessons from the Kona EV will help the company build its strategy for future EVs.

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