Q4 & FY 2019 Results

• Hyundai sold 4,422,644 units in 2019, a (3.6)% drop versus 2018. The company blamed emerging markets but hopes that in 2020 it will be back at the 2018 level. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai reported Q4 2019 revenue of 27.9 trillion KRW (about $23.7 billion), up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Operating income of 1.2 trillion KRW (about $1.1 billion) more than doubled. Full year revenue of 106 trillion KRW (about $90 billion) rose 9.3% from 2018, with operating income of 3.7 trillion KRW (about $3.1 billion). (Hyundai)
• Kia’s Q4 2019 revenue of 16.1 trillion KRW (about $13.7 billion), up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Operating profit of 591 trillion KRW (about $500 million) was 55% higher. Full year revenue of 58 trillion KRW (about $49 billion) rose 7.3% from 2018, with operating profit of 2.0 trillion KRW (about $1.7 billion). (Kia)

December

• Hyundai announced a new set of product objectives called Strategy 2025. The headline was a beefed-up target for electric vehicles -- by 2025 the aim is now to sell 670,000 FCEVs and BEVs annually (previously it was over 560,000 BEVs and an unspecified number of FCEVs) and be in the top three EV manufacturers globally (given Tesla’s current volumes, and VW’s aspirations, Hyundai would have to be next best). The target operating margin for the automotive business in 2025 is 8% with a 5% global market share. Hyundai believes it needs to rest on two pillars -- hardware and services -- in an echo of Ford’s strategy circa 2016. Perhaps the most adventurous target set by the strategy is that by 2035, electric vehicles will be mainstream in emerging markets. (Hyundai)
• Reportedly the target of a hacking attack by a Vietnamese group. (ZDNet)

November

• Investing $1.55 billion to build a new plant in Indonesia and develop a portfolio suited to local tastes. (Hyundai)
• Investing $410 million to build the Santa Cruz pickup at the Montgomery, USA, factory. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai created a mobility subsidiary in California, initially offering car sharing, called MoceanLab. (Hyundai)
• Kia revealed a concept SUV Coupe called Futuron. Kia thinks that in the future, partially autonomous cars mean -- on some journeys -- the driver and passenger can simply lie back. Rear seat passengers will still have to slum it with a conventional position however, and why front passengers can’t simply do this in Kia’s contemporary cars wasn’t explained. (Kia)

October

• Invested in three companies focused on hydrogen fuel cell technologies: Impact Coatings; H2Pro and GRZ Technologies. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai is “fully convinced” that long term fuel economy targets cannot be realised without hydrogen powered vehicles. (Autocar)
• Announced a partnership with logistics firm Taavura to develop unspecified new mobility businesses. (Korea Herald)
• Kia invested $12.5 million in autonomous transport start-up Code42. (Code42)
• Showed off a concept fuel cell powered heavy truck. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai showed some of its latest thinking on electrification and is now targeting sales of 560,000 all-electric vehicles in 2025. (Hyundai)
• Lidar developer Velodyne received $50 million in funding from Hyundai Mobis. (Hyundai Mobis)
• Hyundai is thinking about increasing its share in its Chinese heavy vehicle joint venture. (Reuters)
• Invested in automotive cybersecurity developer Upstream Security. (Upstream Security)
• Has developed an adaptive cruise control system that recalibrates itself based on the owner’s behaviour (distance to vehicles in front, rate of acceleration, time to respond to actions of the vehicle in front). Hyundai makes clear that some “unsafe” driver behaviour will be ignored by the system. (Hyundai)
• Plans to spend $35 billion on new product and M&A by 2023. (Reuters)
• Kia says that because of shortages of batteries and electric motors it won’t launch the all-electric version of the Soul in the US market until 2021. (Inside EVs)
• Settled a case brought by US owners over defective engines. The deal will cost about $760 million. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai’s Cradle VC unit invested in driver monitoring firm Netradyne. As part of the deal, Hyundai will get access to data collected by Netradyne’s dashcams, potentially a useful source of information in building datasets for autonomous driving (having covered 350 miles already). (Hyundai)

Q3 2019 Earnings

• Hyundai sold 1.1 million cars in Q3 2019, a (1.5)% drop on a year-over-year basis. (Hyundai)
• Kia sold 691,151 vehicles in Q3 2019, up 0.6% on a year-over-year basis. Revenue of 15 trillion KRW (about $12.9 billion) rose 7.2% and net profit of 325 billion KRW (about $280 million) was 9.4% better. (Kia)
• Hyundai sold 1.1 million units in Q3 2019, a (1.6)% decline versus a year earlier. Revenue of 27 trillion KRW (about $23 billion) increased 10.4% year-over-year thanks to improved mix and operating income of 379 billion KRW (about $320 million) rose 31% -- which Hyundai said would have been higher if not for one off costs. (Hyundai)

September

• Hyundai and Kia are recalling around 42,000 Tucson and Sportage SUVs because of problems with the diesel particulate filter. (Yonhap)
• Hyundai has created an urban air mobility team. (Hyundai)
• Will collaborate with Cummins to develop hydrogen fuel cells. (Hyundai)
• Creating a small-scale grid storage scheme in partnership with South Korean utility KHNP. (Yonhap)
• Opened a Beijing office for the CRADLE in-house VC unit, declaring the global network to be complete. (Kia)
• Announced a joint venture with Aptiv to develop self-driving vehicles that will see Hyundai and Kia contribute $1.6 billion in cash in return for a 50% in the combined entity. There is an explicit target to have a commercially available system by 2022, although not necessarily for retail buyers. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai showed off the 45 concept car, with an interior and exterior seemingly inspired by Byton, it isn’t clear which design elements will make it into production soon. (Hyundai)
• Despite diesel shrinking to only 10% of sales for some model lines, Hyundai still believes that the fuel type has a future in the Indian market. (Autocar)
• Hyundai cars in Europe will use Lear’s Xevo marketplace to help customers receive loyalty offers and discounts from 3^rd party vendors. (Lear)
• Kia says it already has 7,000 orders for the Mohave large SUV. (Korea Herald)
• Hyundai and Kia are buying into the Ionity European fast charging consortium, taking an equal share to the existing OEM owners. The announcement suggested the new money is going towards reducing the investment from the other partners, rather than increasing the network. (Kia)
• Hyundai will start selling the robotically assisted exoskeletons it has developed for assembly workers. (Kia)

August

• Hyundai unveiled a fold-up electric scooter with a claimed 20km of range. Unlike some competitors, Hyundai’s scooter is a concept without a clear launch date. (Hyundai)
• Concluded a pay agreement with South Korean unions without a strike, a historical rarity. (Reuters)
• Rumoured to be in talks to buy the former GM plant in St Petersburg. (TASS)
• Hyundai has taken several down days at the Irungattukottai plant due to weakness in the Indian market. (The Hindu)
• Hyundai’s Frankfurt show stand will include a concept for a vehicle with a customisable interior. (Hyundai)

July

• Kia says it will definitely meet 2020 and 2021 CO₂ targets, but since the brand reckons that will mean it has to sell 40,000 battery electric vehicles each year (up from about 15,000 now), there are several contingency plans in place that could force a higher mix if the retail demand doesn’t emerge. These include: making its car-sharing business all-electric, forcing the company service fleet and dealer demonstration cars to be electric-only and fitting low resistance tyres to all vehicles. (Automotive News)
• A sales campaign run by Hyundai in the US where customers receive $50 if they take a test drive apparently ends up with half of participants buying a car. (Automotive News)
• Hyundai now offers a solar roof on Sonata hybrid cars. According to Hyundai, between 30% - 60% of the hybrid’s 1.76 kWh battery capacity can be charged over a six hour period. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai’s VC unit invested in parking location and payment app AppyParking. (Hyundai)
• Invested in Maniv Mobility’s new $100 million fund. (Economic Times of India)
• Hyundai says that continuously variable valve duration (CCVD) technology provides a 5% improvement in fuel economy. (Hyundai)
• Might enter NASCAR when new rules come into force for 2021. (Autoweek)

Q2 2019 Financial Results

• Hyundai reported Q2 2019 revenue of 26.97 trillion won (about $23 billion), up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis and operating profit of 1.24 trillion won (about $1 billion), 30.2% better YoY. (Hyundai)

June

• Teaming up with oil giant Saudi Aramco to explore hydrogen production and distribution. (Hyundai)
• Not going ahead with a £20 million mega vanity dealership on the outskirts of London, UK. Hyundai pointed to the existing dealer network and online sales as areas where the money would be better spent. (Motor Trader)
• Unveiled the new Kia Seltos compact SUV. (Kia)
• Deepened an existing partnership with Aurora to develop driverless cars by making an investment of an undisclosed amount (rumoured to be sub-$30 million) in the firm. (Kia)
• As rumoured, Kia will stop producing cars at one of the three Chinese joint venture plants at the end of June, the factory will instead be used to make electric cars for a domestic brand (said to be Human Horizons). (Yonhap)
• Hyundai’s chairman called on G20 energy ministers to support the creation of a hydrogen economy that could support zero emission vehicles. (Hyundai)
• Kia’s new compact SUV will be called the Seltos. (Kia)
• Will use sensors and algorithms developed by Israeli firm MDGo in a pilot project to assess occupant condition after an accident. (Hyundai)
• Released the first images of the new XCeed Crossover model. (Kia)
• Although Kia is exploring new business models relating to mobility and transportation and a service, the company is struggling to see a route to profitability and is especially troubled by how to cope with residual value risk when providing new cars in alternative schemes. (Forbes)

May

• Hyundai and Kia are developing an electric commercial vehicle that weighs itself so that it can select the most efficient motor settings. Because the system uses accelerometers, it can avoid costly air suspension. (KIA)
• Hyundai is opening a mobility research centre in Russia. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai wants to sell hydrogen fuel cell systems to rivals, rather than have them develop their own. (FT)
• Received over 17,000 pre-orders from Indian customers for the Venue SUV. (Autocar)
• Hyundai’s executive vice chairman says the company needs to focus on customers more and look at what competitors are doing less, citing a need to boost R&D efficiency as the greatest challenge. (Hyundai)
• Kia showed some sketches of what the interior of the next generation small SUV will look like. The designers should probably expect a call from BMW. (Kia)
• Hyundai and Kia will invest a collective €80 million in electric car developer Rimac and will work with the Croatian company on high performance electric and fuel cell vehicles. Porsche took a 10% stake in Rimac last year. (Kia)
• Kia teased images of the new small SUV it plans to unveil in the summer. (Kia)

April

• Hyundai invested $5 million in audio personalisation firm Audioburst. (Audioburst)
• Kia executives said that whilst the option of a light pick-up truck based on the forthcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz remains, the brand is not actively pursuing it, seemingly wanting to see how Hyundai’s version fares in the market first. (The Drive)
• Confirmed the announcement of ex-Nissan executive José Muñoz as COO. (Hyundai)
• Wants more information about government policy to decide the optimum sourcing strategy for electric vehicle components in India. (Economic Times of India)
• Reportedly close to announcing a new COO, Nissan’s former chief performance officer. (Bloomberg)
• Hyundai denied media reports that it had agreed an alliance with Tencent for driverless car development. (Reuters)
• Working on a digital cockpit with reconfigurable steering wheel buttons that feature their own screen. (Hyundai)

Q1 2019 Financial Results

• In the first quarter Hyundai sold 1,020,374 units globally, down (2.8)% on the same period in 2018. (Hyundai)
• KIA sold 650,143 vehicles globally in the first quarter, up 0.6% on a year-over-year basis. (KIA)
• Kia announced Q1 2019 revenue of 12.4 trillion KRW (about $10.7 billion), (1)% worse than prior year. Operating profit of 594.1 billion KRW (about $510 million) was almost double Q1 2018. (KIA)
• Hyundai’s sales in Q1 2019 were 24.0 trillion KRW (about $20.7 billion), up 7% on a year-over-year basis, with Hyundai assigning almost all the improvement to better mix. Operating income of 825 billion KRW (about $710 million) rose 21% YoY. (Hyundai)

March

• Hyundai’s Genesis brand will lease cars with servicing and insurance included in a single payment. Shockingly, the scheme, called Spectrum, isn’t being referred to as a subscription. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai’s forthcoming small SUV will be named the Venue. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai and Kia will invest $300 million in ride hailing service Ola. (Hyundai)
• Kia will launch a Ceed crossover, but won’t say what it will be called until later in 2019. (Kia)
• Kia broke ground on an expanded UK distribution centre, which will have room for an additional 8,000 vehicles when completed -- great for dealing with any post-Brexit inventory troubles. (Kia)
• Showed off some details of the new platform that underpins the forthcoming Hyundai Sonata and others. (Hyundai)
• The demands of an activist fund met resistance from South Korean institutional shareholders. (Reuters)
• Looking for partners to finance the development of a new corporate headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. (Reuters)
• Developed a smartphone-based key that lets owners share the vehicle with up to four others. Unlike many contemporaries, Hyundai’s system works using near field communication, rather than transmission to the vehicle modem. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai may cease operations at a plant in Beijing, China. The firm was keen to stress that the move would be a suspension, not full closure. (Reuters). Kia might also close a Chinese plant. (Reuters)
• Hyundai is reportedly in the final stages of talks to invest $250 million in Ola. (IB Times)

February

• Hyundai issued a medium term profit objective of 7% return on sales by 2022. The brand believes that this can be achieved despite a 58% increase in average year product spending. (Hyundai)
• Announced an executive reshuffle. (Hyundai)
• Hyundai says that it needs 14 trillion KRW (about $12.5 billion) of net cash or equivalents for working capital and to provide a sufficient buffer for unforeseen one off events. (Hyundai) This appears to be the rationale for rejecting calls from an activist shareholder to return more cash. (Reuters)
• Hyundai CEO Lee reportedly told investors that the firm is considering capacity cuts in China. (Reuters)
• Kia will show an all-electric concept car at the Geneva show. (Kia)
• Hyundai will start offering a performance-oriented range of SUVs in Europe. It isn’t yet clear how much the changes will be purely to the styling and how much dynamic performance might change. (Hyundai)
• Promised Vietnam’s government that it would increase local sourcing for products assembled in the country to a minimum of 40%. (VietnamNet)

January

• Hyundai agreed to build a new low cost factory in South Korea in a joint venture with the local government (19% Hyundai stake). Local unions are not happy but the deal has the president’s support. Wages will be almost one third of the average unionised Hyundai employee in South Korea. (Reuters)
• Hyundai’s MNSOFT subsidiary will develop next generation maps with help from Netradyne. (Vision Systems)
• Launching a new multi-collision airbag to improve crash performance from secondary impacts. (Hyundai)
• Reportedly implementing a turnaround plan at its Chinese joint venture that will see 1,500 jobs eliminated. (Reuters)
• KIA revealed the 3 row Telluride SUV at the Detroit show. (Detroit News)
• Recalling around 168,000 US vehicles to fix problems with engine wear. (Reuters)
• Reportedly received local government approval to make electric vehicles in India. (ET)
• Unveiled a Hyundai concept vehicle featuring wheels on the end of articulated legs. Hyundai says the vehicle offers unparalleled mobility over rough terrain (without explaining the shortcomings of caterpillar tracks). (Hyundai)
• Hyundai and KIA aim to have a level 4 vehicle on sale around 2025 and a level 5 car by 2030. The two brands will “commercialise” self-driving vehicles in smart cities from 2021 onwards. (Hyundai)
• Increased long term targets for electric vehicles, between Hyundai and KIA, 44 models are planned for 2025, up from 38 previously, expecting them to account for 1.67 million sales annually. (Hyundai)
• KIA demonstrated a concept cockpit at CES that will analyse the driver’s facial movements to determine the appropriate cabin lighting, smell and temperature, all through a yet-to-be-created AI algorithm. KIA presented no evidence from existing vehicles that vehicle inhabitants frequently change these settings today. (KIA)