April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor on Jan. 25 said it plans to launch an electric vehicle with driving range that exceeds 320 kilometers to rival the Chevrolet Bolt.

“We will release an electric vehicle that runs more than 320 kilometers on a single charge by 2018 to compete with rivals such as Chevrolet Bolt,” Choi Byeong-cheol, Hyundai’s chief financial officer, said during a conference call after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. “By 2020, we plan to have an eco-friendly lineup of 14 cars.”

Hyundai’s Ioniq EV currently delivers a range of 180 kilometers per a single charge, falling behind its EV rivals, including Tesla and Chevrolet.

During the conference call on Jan. 25, Hyundai said its fourth-quarter operating profit slumped 32.6 percent on-year to 1.02 trillion won (US$876.03 million) last year, largely hit hard by production loss at domestic plants and slowed sales in emerging markets. Revenue came to 24.53 trillion won, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier, while net profit stood at 1.07 trillion won in the Oct.-Dec. period, down 30.1 percent on-year.

Overall, the automaker posted annual revenue of 93.65 trillion won, up 1.8 percent from 2015, but its operating profit slipped 18.3 percent to 5.19 trillion won, the lowest level since 2010.

Hyundai posted a net profit of 5.72 trillion won in 2016, down 12.1 percent from 2015. The automaker sold 4.85 million cars globally, down 2.1 percent from the previous year.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)