In 2024, Hyundai Motor Group will focus its business on transitioning to purpose-built vehicles (PBV) and software-defined vehicles (SDV).
Hyundai Motor Group’s PBV strategy will take its first step with Kia Motors announcing its PBV lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 for the first time in five years. At this year’s CES, Kia Motors will unveil a lineup of five PBVs, including three medium-sized, one large, and one small concept car.
PBV will become a new growth engine not only for Hyundai Motor Group but also for automakers around the world. This initiative utilizes an electric vehicle platform that can accommodate a variety of vehicle models to produce vehicles with body sizes and driving performance tailored to customer needs. One example is Rivian, a U.S. automaker that makes electric vans for online shopping company Amazon.
Kia Motors is building the world’s first PBV-only factory, the EVO Factory, in Autoland Hwaseong. Operations are scheduled to begin in November 2024, with production of the first PBV, named SW, by July 2025. Kia Motors is also moving into this business by naming its vehicle conversion technology Easy Swap.
According to Kia Motors, this technology allows modules to be modified depending on the application, such as turning a taxi into a delivery-only mobility vehicle. The new factory is likely to adopt the cell-based, multi-model flexible production system recently unveiled at the Singapore Global Innovation Center (HMGIC).
For SDV, the focus is on moving towards software-centric vehicle development. At the New Year’s meeting in January 2023, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Jeong Eui-sun declared that the company’s entire system will be software-centric by 2025. The transition is being led by vehicle software company 42dot, which was acquired by Hyundai Motor Group last August.
42dot will be at CES for the first time to introduce its SDV operating system (OS) solution. Unlike the traditional approach of adding software such as infotainment to the vehicle’s hardware, this concept involves developing the vehicle’s software OS separately from the hardware, similar to how smartphones are developed, to improve vehicle performance. Shorten the cycle of improvements and new feature additions.