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Hyundai the automaker, is investing billions of dollars in US production, including it's Georgia EV hub, and looking to expand into pickup trucks and big SUV's, core US segments that have long been dominated by Ford, GM and Toyota. Joining us now at the desk is Hondai's CEO, Jose Munios. He's here for the New York Auto Show, and Jose appreciate you joining us.
I was at the Auto Show yesterday.
I got to see the Boulder, which is your concept large SUV looks fantastic, and I had thought, you know, it must be so difficult to come in and compete in this space because the US automakers have long dominated because of the Chicken tax. But you'll be building I guess if you do go that direction, you'll be building it here.
That is the plan.
Thank you for having me, Matt always supplicit to visit you well. As you know, we have made a big comitment to invest twenty six billion dollars in the next four years. And this is after twenty zero point four billion dollars that we have invested in the last four years that we've been in the country that we celebrated
last year. As part of this commitment, we want to increase our capacity in the US to one point two million from eight hundred to nine hundred thousand today, and then we want to increase our supply chain, including a steel meal in Louisiana, and then additional investments in technology like robotics, AI, data centers, so on and so forth. But the most important that we have announced during the New York Show last week is that we're going to
introduce in the market fifty eight new products. Thirty six are going to be one hundred products, and twenty two they're going to be Genesis and then through the next four years. And then the most important for us was the introduction of the Boulder concept because when you look at the behavior and the performance of the brand in America, I think we do pretty much a good job. So we just ended Q one with an all time record.
We had the twenty twenty five over achieving one million wholesales for the first time ever, and we're thinking how we can continue to grow and link this to our commitment to America for America, and we thought that the only segments where we are not competing today.
Are the Body on frame.
We got a fantastic review by the press, so thank you Matt. Everybody loved the designs. I can tell you that the reality is going to be better than that. Our designers never disappointed us.
I will tell viewers who don't know. Body on frame means it's a much more robust vehicle. That's a truck right as opposed to the unibody cars.
And you need that in.
This region because of the potholes and broken down roads that take a beating. But it's one that has long been dominated by US players because of this tax. We have a twenty five percent tariff on light duty trucks built overseas that come in here. Where would you build such a body on frame vehicle?
Definitely here in America.
These would be part of our strategy to be localized, to be vertically integrated, part of the twenty six billion dollars, So we want to make it here with our supplier base and then to the taste of the American consumer.
These, though, I mean, are very long term plans that you've put in place, so I'm assuming short term fluctuations and consumer behavior isn't going to change that. But are you seeing changes in consumer behavior now having to deal here in the US with gasoline above four dollars a barrel.
Yeah, we see that all the time.
So our strategy is being different to other OEMs in the sense that we want to offer the customers what they want when they want it, and as such we not only invest on evs but also on hybrid We're going to start producing hybrids this year in our hm A plant in Savannah, and we have also announced that we will introduce er EV extended range EVS next year in the country as well.
So that's how.
We came to the conclusion that you know, if consumers want more evs, we have to produce more evs. They want more hybrids, we have to produce more more hybrids. If they want, for example, both the type of vehicles, we will. But to your question, we have seen a significant change in the dynamics. So for example, in the month of March, we've seen an increase of EV sales
of about forty percent compared to February. So definitely, when the American consumer sees an increase in fuel prices, they try to move to solutions which are more friendly in terms of costs right, especially in states like California.
We saw today that this administration isn't going to give any help on aluminum and steel tariffs to automakers that produce here. Are you penalized to some extent for producing a car here because if you made it in Korea, you might get just a fifteen percent flat tax.
And when you build a car here.
You got to pay the fifty percent on aluminum, fifty percent teriffs on steel, You got to pay the tariffs on all of the components that come together. And Ford says they end up actually paying more to build a comparable vehicle than you do when you make it in South Korea.
Well, that's a very good point that that's why in our case the strata is very simple localization. And that's why we are going to produce this boulder with steel made in America, so full integration, the steel, the logistics, the components, the manufacturing, the workers. Everything is going to be made in America, including the steel.
I have to ask you about Magma, which is your answer to AMG or BMW's m I saw the wing back concept yesterday, which was fantastic. I know you're going to race at Lamar, which is increasingly becoming like the Davos of car manufacturers. Can you really compete against BMW? Can you compete against Mercedes? Can you compete against Audi with that vehicle here, with that brand here.
In America without a doubt.
So last year we saw an old time breaker eighty two thousand Genesis in this market, and then last year we also achieved our one millions Genesis sales, so we've been the fastest growing luxury OEM globally because we did that in only nine years and six months, so faster than Tesla, faster than other luxury competitors, and definitely as part of the evolution as a next frontier for our luxury brand, we wanted to get into the competition, so
the War Endurance Championship, so you have an open invitation to be able to join us in in Leman, and then.
It needs to be real.
That's why we came up with the Macmam Orange and the Macmac concept, which if you saw the numbers, a GV sixty gives you a standard mode more than six hundred horsepower, but if you push the boost model, so you're gonna get to six hundred and fifty horsepower for about fifteen seconds. So this is the Bloomberg Boost or the Matt Bust in July three point four seconds to make it two one hundred miles?
Is that one next?
That's upon next, so you can you can try. So we're gonna be credible contender and it's going to be real performing all right.
Jose, great having it here.
Thanks so much for joining us, and I look forward to seeing you on the track at Lamont as well. Jose Munios there the CEO of Hyundai and Genesis.
Be sure to listen to Hot Pursuit.
By the way, that's my autos podcast with Hannah Elliott. And you saw some of the video of me there at the car show with Christina Christina Raffini, because Bloomberg this weekend is going to show a big piece about what we saw and did at the New York International Auto Show and it was a lot of fun.