Hyundai Motor Group sets out its 2026 vision and priorities

Hyundai Motor Group presented its 2026 vision, focusing on customer-led transformation, AI integration and ecosystem strength. Read the key priorities.

Hyundai Motor Group is entering 2026 with a clear message to the industry: incremental change is no longer enough. Executive Chair Euisun Chung outlined the Group’s strategic vision, placing customer focus, artificial intelligence, and ecosystem development at the center of its long-term transformation.

The strategy is built around five core priorities, ranging from customer-driven evolution to the ambition of shaping new industry standards. This reflects a broader shift in the automotive sector, where competition increasingly depends not on individual products, but on integrated technological and organizational capabilities.

Artificial intelligence occupies a pivotal role in this vision. Hyundai emphasizes that AI is not viewed as a support function, but as a foundational element of its future operating model. As the focus moves toward physical AI, systems that interact directly with the physical world, data generated by vehicles, robots, and manufacturing processes becomes a critical source of differentiation.

This approach is closely tied to the Group’s transition toward software-defined vehicles (SDV). Hyundai Motor Group continues to advance a model in which software defines vehicle functionality, while hardware serves as a scalable platform. The internal SDV Pace Car project is being used to validate these architectures before their broader application in next-generation models.

Robotics represents another key pillar of the strategy. Through its collaboration with Boston Dynamics, the Group is expanding the use of robots such as Spot, Stretch, and the humanoid Atlas. These technologies are already generating real-world operational data and are positioned as tools to enhance safety, efficiency, and quality across manufacturing operations.

Alongside digital and robotic technologies, Hyundai is reinforcing its hydrogen strategy. The Group continues to develop a comprehensive hydrogen value chain, spanning production, storage, transportation, and utilization, positioning hydrogen as a broader industrial and energy solution rather than a mobility-only fuel.

During the strategic discussions, executives from Hyundai, Kia, and Hyundai Mobis also addressed growth plans, production localization, and supply chain restructuring. These measures are aimed at mitigating tariff and geopolitical risks while supporting the Group’s broader digital and technological transformation.

Taken together, the vision presented by Hyundai Motor Group suggests that 2026 is not a destination, but a milestone in a longer transition. A transition toward a model where technology, data, and ecosystem thinking play a defining role in shaping the future standards of mobility and manufacturing.