Hyundai Motor aims to return to Japanese market in 2022

Hyundai Motor Group is expected to return to the Japanese market in 11 years with its fuel cell electric vehicle (fcev) and electric vehicle (ev) models at the forefront.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Sunday that Hyundai Motor plans to launch the NEXO or its flagship FCEV in the Japanese market in 2022. As the South Korean carmaker in September set up a website on passenger cars in the Japanese language and enthusiastically endorsed eco-friendly cars, industry observers projected that it will again knock on the door of the Japanese market.

Hyundai Motor started a market research last summer to make its way back to Japan, said the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Apart from its previous failure in Japan with internal combustion cars, it expects that FCEVs and EVs will upgrade the company's image to win over the hearts of Japanese car buyers, according to the new report.

It has been reported that Hyundai Motor earned a certification necessary to sell cars in the Japanese market with the aim of launching the NEXO in 2022. In competition with Toyota and Honda, the South Korean carmaker has a global market share of more than 70 percent in the world's FCEV market this year. 　

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun wrote that Hyundai’s decision to return was partly attributable to the fact that the Japanese government has EV-friendly policies in place such as higher purchase subsidies while there are rapid increases in the number of hydrogen charging stations and EV chargers across the nation.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com