By Moses Akaigwe
Hyundai Motor Company has announced that its brand value reached $20.4 billion in Interbrand’s ‘Best Global Brands 2023’, ascending in valuation for 13 straight years. This represents the third highest year-over-year valuation increase out of 100 brands.
The company’s brand rank rose from 35th to 32nd — the first increase in rank since 2016, based in part on Hyundai Motor’s accelerated electrification and future mobility vision.
This is good news for the teeming lovers of the brand and its wide range of vehicles in Nigeria where it is represented by Hyundai Motors Nigeria Ltd {Stallion Motors}.
In 2014, Hyundai Motor’s brand value reached $10 billion, and for the first six years, its valuation rose $4 billion. However, following Euisun Chung’s appointment as Hyundai Motor Group’s Executive Chair, its valuation has increased $6 billion in merely three years. Ever since it’s entry in Interbrand’s ‘Best Global Brands’ in 2005 with a valuation of $3.5 billion, the numbers have multiplied nearly six times.
Hyundai Motor’s accelerated success of late can be attributed, in part, to the leadership of the top management team led by Executive Chair Chung. They have played a pivotal role in guiding the company’s strategic direction as a Smart Mobility Solutions Provider in alignment with its vision of ‘Progress for Humanity.’ The driving force behind this transformation is the company’s progressive approach to innovation, technology and product development.
“As the automotive industry undergoes a transformation, Hyundai Motor is exploring future mobility solutions to respond to fast-changing consumer needs,”
said Sungwon Jee, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Hyundai Motor Company. “We are committed to a better future for all of humanity.”
Interbrand attributed its positive assessment of Hyundai Motor to the company’s agile response to the electrification transition, its leadership in the future mobility paradigm shift, and its sincere activities around the brand’s vision of ‘Progress for Humanity.’
“Hyundai Motor Company is making big strides in forwarding its vision of ‘Progress for Humanity’ through the IONIQ brand,” said an Interbrand representative. “Hyundai continues to impress with its authentic communication regarding core human values such as sustainability. We look forward to the company’s growth in the evolving automotive industry.”
Accelerated electrification strategy and vision of future mobility
Hyundai Motor is navigating the automotive industry’s electrification revolution with agility, grounded in its heritage project’s commitment to finding its ‘future from its origin.’ The brand’s dedication to innovation is exemplified by its first two retro-futuristic EVs, IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 — the back-to-back winners of a trio of World Car Awards in 2022 and 2023.
Hyundai Motor aims to sustain this momentum, meeting market expectations with the launch of a large flagship electric SUV in 2024. The company also is exploring the potential of hydrogen high-performance vehicles through N Vision 74, inheriting the design and spirit of the Pony Coupe.
Since declaring its status as a ‘Smart Mobility Solutions Provider’ in 2020, Hyundai Motor has pursued various technology innovations through strategic partnerships. The company’s commitment to future mobility is exemplified by plans to launch an IONIQ 5 robotaxi service in the U.S.
Meanwhile, in another development, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation have unveiled the Universal Wheel Drive System — called ‘Uni Wheel’ — at ‘Uni Wheel Tech Day’ in Seoul, Korea. This paradigm-shifting vehicle drive system will revolutionise the design of future mobility devices.
Uni Wheel is a functionally integrated wheel drive system that dramatically improves available space inside an electric vehicle (EV) by moving the main drive system components to the vacant space within the wheel hub. In doing so, Hyundai Motor and Kia have designed a completely new structure for the drive system.
In internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles power is transmitted from the engine through the transmission and to the wheels via drive shafts and constant velocity (CV) joints. In EVs, the engine and transmission are replaced by a motor and reduction gear, but the final method of transmission to the wheels is the same.
Uni Wheel opens new possibilities and enables a flat-floor configuration by moving an EV’s reduction gear inside the wheel hub, locating a compact individual motor close to each wheel, reducing the length of the drive shafts.
The system frees up significantly more interior space compared with conventional drive systems, enabling future mobility products optimized for various applications, such as Purpose Built Vehicles (PBVs).
“We are pleased to showcase innovative ideas that could become game changers in the future mobility market,” said Jongsool Park, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Technology Development of Hyundai Motor Group. “We will perfect the technology so that customers can experience mobility in a completely different and new way.”
Advancing future mobility through new technology
Recent advances in electrification, autonomous driving and connectivity technologies are transforming mobility products into living spaces. Hyundai Motor and Kia’s focus on space utilisation in future vehicle architectures will further boost customer value and provide owners with richer user experiences as a result.
Uni Wheel uses a special planetary gear configuration consisting of a sun gear in the center, four pinion gears on each side and a ring gear surrounding this arrangement. Power generated by the motor is transmitted to the sun gear, which in turn engages the pinion gears to rotate the ring gear. This is connected to the wheel to drive the vehicle.
Uni Wheel’s pinion gears are connected to each other to form two linkages, and this multi-link mechanism enables Uni Wheel’s multi-axis movement to allow a wide range of suspension articulation.