Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation have today announced a €100M investment in UK based electric vehicle company Arrival.
The investment marks the start of a strategic partnership between the automakers to jointly accelerate the adoption of commercial electric vehicles globally.
Hyundai and Kia will use key Arrival technologies to help achieve their recently announced goal to develop mobility services and electrify their vehicle fleets.
Arrival is reimagining vehicle design and assembly to create Generation 2 Electric Vehicles. Generation 1 electric vehicles are existing fossil fuel vehicles retrofitted with electric power trains, making them expensive, inefficient and costly to run and maintain. Generation 2 vehicles are assembled using small footprint microfactories, located in areas of demand and profitable at thousands of units.
Headquartered in London with over 800 employees in 5 countries Arrival is vertically integrated, and has created in-house software, components, sustainable materials and modular skateboard platforms.
CEO of Arrival, Denis Sverdlov said: “Arrival has created a game changing product category – Generation 2 Electric Vehicles. Hyundai and KIA make world-class vehicles with uncompromising quality. This strategic partnership will empower our companies to scale Generation 2 Electric Vehicles globally”
Albert Biermann, President and Head of Research and Development Division at Hyundai Motor Group, added: “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.”
Youngcho Chi, President and Chief Innovation Officer at Hyundai Motor Group said: “This investment is part of an open innovation strategy pursued by Hyundai and Kia. We will accelerate investment and cooperation with companies with advanced technology such as Arrival, to respond to the rapidly changing eco-friendly vehicle market.”
“We are excited to come out of stealth mode with our partnership with Hyundai Motor Group, and our complementary expertise will allow us to rapidly design, build and roll out vehicles together. Accelerating electric vehicle adoption is good for everyone – for people, business and the planet and we are pleased to undertake this mission with our partners Hyundai and Kia.”