All posts by Francis Mitterrand

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Hyundai Motor Group Launches Ambitious $87B Mobility Transformation Plan

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Hyundai Motor Group isn’t just preparing for the future—it’s trying to buy a commanding stake in it. The Korean giant announced a staggering KRW 125.2 trillion ($87 billion) domestic investment plan spanning 2026 to 2030, the largest in its history and a massive escalation over its previous five-year spend. The goal? Turn South Korea into ground zero for mobility innovation, from EVs and hydrogen to AI-powered robots and software-defined cars.

If that sounds like a lot of buzzwords strung together, it is. But Hyundai’s track record suggests it knows how to turn ambition into product. This is the company that went from “cheap alternative to Toyota” to building the Ioniq 5 N, Palisade, and a luxury brand (Genesis) that shocks BMW owners at stoplights.

Now it’s going even bigger.

A Triple-Stacked Investment Plan

Hyundai is slicing its massive cash commitment into three main buckets:

  • KRW 50.5 trillion for future businesses — AI, SDVs, electrification, robotics, hydrogen
  • KRW 38.5 trillion for R&D — new products, new tech, competitive advantage
  • KRW 36.2 trillion for capital investments — production upgrades, new factories, and the long-awaited Global Business Center (GBC) in Seoul

Think of it as Hyundai building its own Silicon Valley, Detroit, and SpaceX campus simultaneously.

AI: The New Horsepower

In the automotive world, AI has become the modern equivalent of turbocharging. Hyundai wants to turn it into a core performance metric.

The company is already collaborating with NVIDIA, integrating stronger AI systems into everything from driver assistance to smart factories. But the big play is Atria AI, Hyundai’s end-to-end deep-learning model that aims to power true autonomous driving—not just today’s lane-keeping training wheels.

To feed that digital brain, Hyundai is considering a high-power AI data center with petabyte-scale storage. That’s data-center speak for “bring a lunch, we’ll be here a while.”

Adding to the sci-fi future, Hyundai plans to establish the Physical AI Application Center, a proving ground where robots trained by AI can be tested in the real world before rolling into factories—or potentially your garage.

Robots. Lots of Robots.

Remember when Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics? That wasn’t just for viral dancing-robot videos.

This investment cycle includes:

  • A robotics manufacturing and foundry facility
  • A supply-chain transformation to help Korea’s automotive parts makers pivot into robotics
  • AI-driven mobility systems

Hyundai wants to make robots the next big export category. If Japan has anime mechs, Korea might end up with factory mechs.

EVs and Hydrogen: A Two-Fuel Future

Hyundai isn’t picking a single energy horse—it’s betting on the whole stable.

EV Expansion

Hyundai’s EV exports are expected to rocket from 690,000 units today to 1.76 million by 2030. That’s a lot of E-GMP battery packs.

New EV-dedicated plants are already on the way:

  • Hyundai Ulsan EV plant — opening next year
  • Kia PBV (Purpose-Built Vehicle) EV plant — readying for launch
  • Hydrogen fuel cell facility — coming in 2027

And yes, Hyundai is developing Extended Range Electrified Vehicles (EREVs) with over 900 km (560 miles) of range. Think of it as a battery vehicle with a tiny onboard generator—an EV with a backup plan.

Hydrogen Ambitions

While other automakers quietly back away from hydrogen, Hyundai is doubling down:

  • A 1 GW PEM electrolysis plant in Korea’s southwest
  • Fuel-cell component factories
  • A plan for an AI-enhanced Hydrogen Smart City

If Hyundai has its way, hydrogen becomes the clean-energy backbone of entire regions—not just a niche fuel-cell SUV.

Software-Defined Vehicles: Hyundai’s Next Platform Play

Hyundai’s new “Pleos” mobility software brand signals its plan to decouple hardware and software—just like Tesla, but without the subscription to turn on your heated seats (we hope).

An SDV Pace Car, debuting in 2026, will preview Hyundai’s next-gen digital architecture. Expect faster OTA updates, new infotainment ecosystems, and possibly subscription-based driving features… because carmakers can’t resist recurring revenue.

Boosting Output, Boosting the Economy

Hyundai isn’t just investing in tech—it’s refreshing its entire domestic production footprint.

It plans to:

  • Optimize manufacturing lines for new models
  • Convert regional plants into EV export hubs
  • Increase total exports to 2.47 million units by 2030
  • Expand EV charging infrastructure
  • Build LNG plants, electrolyzers, and smarter factories

Factories in Ulsan, Hwaseong, Dangjin, and more will get upgrades that ripple through Korea’s broader industrial ecosystem.

In plain English: Hyundai is trying to future-proof an entire nation’s manufacturing base.

The Big Picture

Hyundai Motor Group’s bet isn’t just big—it’s transformational. It signals a company preparing not just for the electric era, but for an AI-defined, hydrogen-supported, robot-enhanced mobility world.

If Hyundai succeeds, South Korea could become the global epicenter of next-generation automotive and energy tech. If it stumbles… well, even then, investing $87 billion buys a lot of lessons.

For now, Hyundai looks like a company sprinting toward the future while most rivals are still stretching.

Source: Hyundai

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Mazda Wants Your Driving Habit to Save the Planet — And Its Race Car Is the Test Bed

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Mazda has never been shy about zigging where the rest of the industry zags. Rotary engines long after everyone else gave up? Check. Putting handling above horsepower for decades? Absolutely. And now, in a world laser-focused on EVs, the company is testing a technology that sounds like science fiction: a car that captures its own CO₂ emissions while it drives.

CO₂ capture device installed on the demonstration vehicle

At the Japan Mobility Show 2025, Mazda doubled down on its manifesto, “The Joy of Driving Fuels a Sustainable Tomorrow.” And they mean it literally. The company’s long-term goal, pegged to 2035, is a bizarre but intriguing idea: the more you drive, the more CO₂ you remove from the atmosphere.

Yeah, we raised an eyebrow too.

Race Track First, Public Roads Later

To prove they’re serious, Mazda bolted its prototype system—called Mazda Mobile Carbon Capture—onto a race car. Not a show pony. A race car.

At the Super Taikyu Series Round 7 on November 15–16, the system made its debut aboard the MAZDA SPIRIT RACING 3 Future Concept (Car No. 55). The car ran on HVO biodiesel, a carbon-neutral fuel already in use across parts of Europe. That means the fuel itself doesn’t contribute net carbon. But Mazda’s aiming higher.

The onboard device uses zeolite, a porous mineral that behaves like a molecular sponge, to adsorb CO₂ directly from the exhaust stream. Not “reduce,” not “offset”—capture. Under real racing loads.

And according to Mazda, the system worked. It successfully trapped measurable CO₂ during the race.

A Small Step, A Big Claim

Let’s be clear: Mazda isn’t announcing a magic box that cancels out a road trip’s worth of emissions. This is early-stage tech, and even Mazda admits capture rates need to rise—dramatically—before anything transformative happens.

Demonstration vehicle

But the company is committing to more real-world testing in the 2026 Super Taikyu season, iterating hardware and refining the system. That’s notable. Race tracks are unforgiving R&D labs; if something can survive hours of high-RPM abuse, it has a shot at surviving daily driving.

Why This Matters

EV evangelists will rightly point out that carbon capture on combustion engines feels like prolonging the dinosaur age. But Mazda is playing a different long game, one rooted in practicality:

  • Internal-combustion vehicles will be on the road for decades.
  • Carbon-neutral fuels exist today.
  • Capturing exhaust CO₂ could help bridge the transition to whatever comes next.

If Mazda can scale this, it could carve out a uniquely sustainable role for combustion engines—one where enthusiasts don’t have to choose between performance and planetary guilt.

The Big Picture

Mazda’s “drive more, pollute less” vision sounds almost like satire from an alternate universe. Yet here they are, strapping experimental carbon sponges to race cars and chasing down a future where tailpipes become vacuum cleaners.

Is it the solution? Probably not the only one.

Is it peak Mazda? Absolutely.

And we’d expect nothing less from a company that still believes in the magic of throttle response, feedback, and the joy of movement.

Source: Mazda

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Volkswagen’s Wallet Problem: Inside the €11 Billion Gap Stalling the Group’s Future

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Volkswagen is staring down a financial pothole deep enough to rattle even the world’s second-largest automaker. Sales are cooling, costs are climbing, and the aftershocks of Trump-era U.S. tariffs still echo through Wolfsburg’s balance sheets. The result? A full-blown cash crunch that’s forcing VW to slam the brakes on spending at the exact moment it needs to floor it.

A Multibillion-Euro Lifeline… Stuck in Neutral

Every November, VW’s supervisory board typically signs off on a massive five-year investment plan—think of it as the company’s nutritional IV drip for future models, EV platforms, and the factory upgrades needed to build them. But this year, the drip has stopped.

The board was expected to approve the new plan last week; instead, it quietly pushed the decision into limbo. Insiders say confidence has dipped so low that the group isn’t willing to green-light a cent until the financial fog lifts.

That hesitation freezes plans across nearly 100 factories worldwide, from Europe to Latin America to China. No approvals means no modernized plants, no locked-in model allocations, and no clear path forward for the next generation of Volkswagens, Audis, and Porsches.

Suppliers—already jittery—now find themselves parked in a holding pattern. Development projects are slowing, and some may stall entirely if VW doesn’t get its war chest sorted.

How Big Is the Hole? Try €11 Billion.

According to Bild, Volkswagen is facing an €11 billion ($12.7 billion) shortfall in its 2026 investment plan. And that’s within a broader five-year spending outlook of €160 billion ($185 billion)—a budget that suddenly looks a lot tighter than it did when the board drafted it.

VW’s sprawling product portfolio, from entry-level Skodas to flagship Audis and Bentleys, is expensive to feed. Electrification and digitalization don’t come cheap, either. But without the investment plan, all of that hangs in the balance.

Audi Feels the Heat

Audi might end up the biggest collateral damage.
For years, the brand has floated the idea of a U.S. factory—something its rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz already use as leverage to soften the blow of American tariffs. With its own U.S. plant, Audi could build high-margin SUVs stateside and dodge some geopolitical turbulence.

But Wolfsburg can’t write that check right now. And unless the board releases the investment funds, that dream plant stays exactly where it’s been for a decade: hypothetical.

Will December Save the Day?

There’s chatter that the supervisory board could convene a special meeting in December to revisit the investment plan. But sources warn that optimism is fragile. If the financial outlook doesn’t improve, this decision could easily slip into next year.

For now, one of the world’s largest carmakers is sitting in its own waiting room—watching precious time drain away while competitors press ahead with their next chapters.

VW may not be out of gas, but it’s definitely running on reserve.

Source: Bild