Hyundai, Kia see strong demand for EVs, despite rivals' concerns
By Abhirup Roy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Hyundai Motor (OTC:HYMTF) and Kia see strong U.S. demand for electric vehicles (EVs), senior executives at the South Korean automakers told Reuters ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show.
The comments run against industry fears that inflation and higher interest rates will undermine the boom in EV sales. Other major EV makers from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Ford Motor (NYSE:F) have pushed back EV-related factory buildouts in the face of economy-related concern.
«I am still very bullish on the battery electrics,» Jose Munoz, Hyundai's global chief operating officer, said in Los Angeles ahead of the auto show that opened on Friday, adding the company's EV sales were doubling year-over-year.
«Our investments in the battery electric plant in Savannah (Georgia) move on. So we're pushing as much as we possibly can to get it ready by October next year,» he said. "(Investments) are not on track. They are accelerated. We are pulling ahead."
Munoz added that, «based on what I see, I need more. If I had more capacity today, I could sell more cars.»
Kia, which is 34% owned by Hyundai, has a similar view as its sister company.
«We're still growing organically despite the weather outside,» said Steven Center, chief operating officer at Kia America, referring to the economic climate. «We're not seeing a slowdown.»
He added that Kia was expanding into additional segments that would power EV growth. «All things being equal, as they say in economics, we'll continue to grow in volume, and the EV side will do most of the growing.»
Inflation and high interest rates have raised the costs of buying a car. Electric-vehicle makers meanwhile are dealing with supply-chain bottlenecks and pricing pressure from
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