This photo provided by Hyundai Motor on Sept. 6, 2021, shows Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ5 robo taxi (L) and Prophecy concept at IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany.
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Group is speeding up the shift towards electrification by abolishing the engine development center within its research and development (R&D) headquarters.
According to industry sources, the group carried out a top-to-bottom restructuring of its R&D headquarters by transitioning the existing powertrain organization into an electrification development unit and establishing a new center specializing in battery development.
The sub-organizations under the umbrella of the abolished engine development center were placed under the control of other centers, including the electrification design center.
Hyundai Motor, however, noted that instead of abolishing the internal combustion engine development unit, it simply placed it under the control of another center to create an electrification-centered organization.
Placed under the control of the newly-established battery development center are the battery design department, the battery performance development department and the preceding battery development department.
This move reflects the group’s desire to spearhead technological development despite the fact that it does not mass-produce batteries, the core component of electric vehicles, on its own.
In addition, the group removed the word ‘powertrain’ from the names of the powertrain system development center, the powertrain performance development center and the powertrain support team and replaced it with ‘electrification.’
Accordingly, the R&D headquarters no longer has any organization using the word ‘powertrain’ in its name.
Park Chung-kook, the newly-appointed president of the R&D headquarters, said in an email to employees, “To transform the big asset of the past into future innovation, we changed the existing ‘engine-transmission-electrification system’ into the ‘design-test centered functional system.”
Some industry watchers said that the engine development department, which played a key role in propelling the group into a global front-runner after being established in 1983 by late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, faded into history, indicating that the group finally entered the full stage of transition towards electric vehicles.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
