Hyundai Motors has plans to bring its electric vehicle lineup to India soon. The likes of Hyundai Kona have already been slated for launch this year. But if a new report is to be believed, the company might not just be gunning for the personal vehicle segment with its launches.
Recent reports indicate that Hyundai is also planning to introduce its electric vehicles in the countrywide fleet of Indian ride-sharing firm Ola by 2021. The EVs to be used for this will be developed under Hyundai¡¯s ¡®Smart EV¡¯ platform and will specifically be made for Ola.
The reports follow the recent investment of Hyundai Motors, along with its affiliate Kia Motors, in Ola. The $300 million funding was aimed at forming a strategic partnership wherein the three firms will be making India specific electric vehicles as well as their corresponding infrastructure.
(Representative Image: Comyan)
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Back in March, Euisun Chung, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group had said ¡°India is the centrepiece of Hyundai Motor Group¡¯s strategy to gain leadership in the global mobility market and our partnership with Ola will certainly accelerate our efforts to transform into a Smart Mobility Solutions Provider.¡±
The partnership will open the doors for a new vertical for Hyundai, that of having its own ride-hailing fleet. The three companies will also be responsible for managing the said fleet vehicles.
Even before the massive funding, Ola had confirmed a future deployment of 1 million electric vehicles in its country-wide fleet by 2022, including both three and four-wheelers. Building on that, the company even kickstarted its EV operations in Nagpur back in 2018 but had to put an end to it for some operational deficiencies.