It was announced today that Hyundai and Kia would make a sizable investment of €100 million into UK-based electric van startup, Arrival, and will hope to have some cooperation on future Hyundai and Kia models in the future.
Arrival has made a bit of a splash in the electric vehicle world over the past couple of years with what they dub their ‘Generation 2.0’ technology. According to Arrival these Generation 2 vehicles are not only more cost-effective to produce than existing electric vehicles, but also “surpass traditional vehicles in cost, design and efficiency”. Additionally, they are designed to be able to be assembled in “microfactories” which can be more strategically placed in areas of demand and become profitable after only producing in the thousands of units.
Pretty bold claims from the startup, but their electric vans have already gotten attention from the Royal Mail and UPS who both have acquired vans to trial and evaluate them.
Now it seems that Hyundai and Kia have seen potential in the company and invested over $100 million into the company with hopes that it can help with Hyundai’s future electric vehicle offerings. Specifically, the partnership hopes to help with Hyundai and Kia’s plans to “introduce competitively priced small and medium-sized electric vans and other products for logistics and on-demand ride-hailing and shuttle service companies”. Additionally, Hyundai will hope to leverage Arrival’s microfactories in future model production. Arrival will of course benefit from the Korean automaker’s worldwide footprint and economies of scale.
Albert Biermann, President and Head of Research and Development Division at Hyundai Motor Group stated during the signing of the deal:
“The eco-friendly vehicle market in Europe is expected to grow rapidly due to reinforcement of environmental regulations. Through the joint development of commercial electric vehicles with Arrival, we will be able to gain a competitive advantage and progressively establish our leadership in the global eco-friendly vehicle market.”
CEO of Arrival Denis Sverdlov added:
“Arrival has created a game changing product category – Generation 2.0 electric vehicles. Hyundai and Kia have been making amazing vehicles with uncompromising quality and share our vision for an electric mobility future. Our Strategic Partnership with Hyundai and Kia means we will scale Generation 2 electric vehicles globally and importantly – in the very near future.”
At this point, there is no timeline of any future Hyundai or Kia models that will leverage these technologies or if Arrival will spin up production anytime soon.
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Source: Hyundai
