The Electric: Hyundai’s U.S. CEO Criticizes Rivals for EV Pullback

For three years, General Motors, Ford and other automakers were all elbows, seeking to outdo one another in their commitment to electric vehicles, backed by tens of billions of dollars each in promised spending. But over the last five or so months, most did a U-turn: They had gotten EVs wrong, many said—customers were not lining up for them in droves as expected, at least not yet. GM and Ford cut billions of dollars from their EV spending plans, and postponed or cut numerous future EV models.

This state of affairs does not sit well with Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motors America. Last year, the South Korean automaker and its sibling company, Kia, muscled their way into the No. 2 spot in EV sales in the U.S., selling almost 40,000 EVs. That was well behind Tesla’s 654,800 in sales, but ahead of other rivals. In the first quarter this year, Hyundai was No. 3 in EV sales, still well behind Tesla and edged out this time by Ford, but keeping its place in the top tier. Meanwhile, Hyundai was proceeding with plans to spend $12.6 billion building an EV and lithium-ion battery complex near Savannah, Ga., capable of pumping out 300,000 EVs annually, where it hopes to begin production by the end of the year. And last month, the company said it would spend $51 billion over the next three years to add EV research and production capacity in South Korea.