Euisun Chung

Hyundai Motor Group’s corporate venture capital arm, ZER01NE, has launched its third fund targeting AI, robotics, cybersecurity, and energy technologies.

Leveraging its nearly three-decade-long track record in India, auto billionaire Euisun Chung’s Hyundai Motor Group listed its Indian unit last October, raising $3.3 billion in the country’s largest-ever IPO.

The world’s third largest automaker by volume, Hyundai Motor Group is investing in areas including hydrogen and electric vehicles.

Euisun Chung, executive chair and CEO of Hyundai Motor, is driving full tilt into the electric-vehicle market.

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group—led by billionaire Euisun Chung—announced on Tuesday that the conglomerate will invest $18 billion into its domestic electric vehicle manufacturing business amid the country’s efforts to lead global EV production.

The automaker, led by Korean billionaire Euisun Chung, is pushing into a global EV market that’s expected to accelerate over the coming years in keeping with goals set by governments in much of the world to cut greenhouse emissions.

The Korean industrial giant says hydrogen is essential for cutting carbon emissions and intends to roll out a cheaper, smaller fuel cell system.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest $7.4 billion in the U.S. over the next four years to make electric vehicles and expand hydrogen refueling stations, among others, in line with billionaire heir-apparent Euisun Chung’s green-car ambitions.

The deal will leverage Boston Dynamics’ and Hyundai’s respective strengths in manufacturing, logistics and automation.

Ineos, which is run by founder and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai to explore producing and supplying hydrogen for commercial use.

Hyundai Card has been quietly winning the war for data science talent for years and is already capable of analyzing the consumer spending patterns of its more than 9 million card holders.

The younger Chung will take the helm of the world’s fifth-largest automaker amid a daunting period of technological and economic change buffeting the auto industry. Autonomous driving, electrification, hydrogen fuel cells, robotics and flying cars are areas in which Hyundai expects to invest.

The global downturn is an early test for Euisun Chung, who in March succeeded his father as chairman of Hyundai Motor’s board. Not only does Euisun, 49, have to steer Hyundai through slumping demand, but he must also manage the shift to electric and self-driving vehicles.

Facing headwinds, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Euisun Chung -- heir to the family-controlled South Korean automaker -- uses the customary end-of-year chaebol executive shuffle to cement his control on company leadership.

Is Euisun Chung preparing to take over Hyundai Motor? An extraordinary interview given by the company's heir apparent suggests a generational handover may come soon.

Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman breaks with formal Korean tradition and dons a t-shirt for the world premiere of the company's new Kona CUV. Was this a one-off gesture or an important shift in how the company sees itself?