Hyundai and Kia are making quick progress on their plans to make electric cars. By 2030, they want to sell two million EVs each year. This is likely done by appealing to the most popular market group in the United States. During a meeting with investors in Seoul today, Jaehoon Chang, the CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, said that the company’s new modular EV technology could be used to make an electric pickup truck. The current Hyundai E-GMP platform, used by its electric cars, will be phased out in favour of the new Integrated Modular Architecture platform, which will be used for 13 new Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles. One of the platform’s main goals is to standardise parts more, which will lower production costs and, in the long run, make room for cheaper electric cars. Hyundai also said at the conference about R&D and production spending that the IMA platform will “cover nearly all vehicle classes, from small to large SUVs to pickup trucks, as well as the flagship models of the Genesis brand.” (We stress.) Even though no specific models have been announced for the North American market or given to the public, the automaker has been dropping hints everywhere that electric pickups are on the way. Still, the United States is the world’s biggest market for pickup trucks, and Hyundai says that electric pickup trucks are on the way. Hyundai has succeeded with its small Santa Cruz truck, a unibody SUV with a short bed. It is built on the crossover Tucson and only comes with gas engines. Not so with the new trucks from Hyundai and Kia. Australia said in May that Kia’s body-on-frame pickup truck, powered by gas or electricity, was made just for the Australian market. The car is only available in Asia and Oceania and was never meant to be shipped to the US. We will hear more about these trucks as Hyundai moves forward with its bold plan to make more electric cars. American companies are the only ones who sell electric pickup trucks right now. Even if the Korean automaker doesn’t make a full-size monster, it still needs to be determined if it can fight for market share in a market it has never been in. But Hyundai SUVs will soon have a blocky look, which makes us think the company is getting ready to enter this market.
