Hyundai Venue EV in the works?

After witnessing the success of Tata Motor’s EV offerings, Hyundai India is also eyeing to grab a slice of the EV success cake. The South Korean automaker recently made a huge announcement regarding their electrification plans for India. Hyundai is planning to introduce six new Battery Electric Vehicles in India by the year 2028.

Out of these six new vehicles, a few will be a mix of the global platform-based models, while the rest would be based on the existing ICE cars. Hyundai is planning to debut one of the six cars before the end of 2024. This BEV would be based on the already-in-production internal combustion engine model. It is believed that it will be most likely based on the highly successful mid-size SUV Venue.

Tarun Garg, director of Sales, Marketing, and Service at Hyundai India, insinuated that the first of those six vehicles could be an SUV. He said, “I think it’s probably a no-brainer, adding to it he stated, “Because when you see the market trends in 2021, 37 percent of the market is SUVs. So that will become a very significant part as far as body type is concerned for BEVs. ”

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As of now the brand’s only electric offering in India is the Kona EV. The Hyundai Kona is a premium electric vehicle and the market for which is India is not very huge. which is why the vehicle has been very slow in moving out of the shelf. Hyundai India has understood this and now they are planning to base their first of six BEVs on an existing ICE to kick off their new mass-market EV.

This method seems to be inspired by the success of Tata Motors Nexon EV. Tata, instead of developing an all-new EV platform, converted their best-selling mid-size SUV Nexon’s ICE version into an EV. This enabled the brand to price the vehicle very aggressively, which in turn has helped the Nexon EV to become the highest-selling EV in the nation. So it makes sense for Hyundai to target this already successful market for its first electric SUV.

Although the company is looking to start this new EV journey with an SUV, Garg said, “We are not discounting any other thing [body style]; we will see what the market feedback is. As you know, we are a very significant player in hatches and sedans as well,”

The EV’s that will make their way into Hyundai India’s portfolio will be based on the company’s e-GMP platform which underpins cars like the IONIQ 5. This platform will consist of a vehicle chassis that includes the battery, motor, and power electric system. Upon which the company will be able to add different body types to create different models. This modular platform will enable to brand to keep the development costs down and increase the number of options for the buyers. This platform will serve as the base for both mass and premium segment Hyundai EVs.

On the further elaboration of the electrification plan of Hyundai in India, the company announced that they will be investing around Rs. 4000 crores, which will be used for R&D of the upcoming EVs as well as developing supporting infrastructure. The company has already started to work on the EV infrastructure with strategic collaborations in the country.

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