Hyundai to continue making combustion engines, says EV infrastructure insufficient



After several brands have announced that they will not stop making combustion engines, Korean car maker Hyundai has also joined the fossil fuel camp. According to Hyundai, some parts of the world aren’t ready for electric vehicle technology yet.

Speaking to CarExpert, Hyundai Executive Technical Advisor, Albert Biermann said, “We are continuing for next emission levels [in internal combustion development]. We have no other choices. I mean, we are not giving up on combustion engines, right, we are a global player. And there is no infrastructure available for EVs for quite some time in several regions.”

Back in December 2021, it was reported that Hyundai shut down its engine development department at the company’s Namyang Research institute. Business Korea reported that Hyundai’s powertrain group was subsequently reorganized into an electrification development team. As for engine manufacturing, Hyundai engines are made in the company’s plants in India, South Korea, Alabama, and the Czech Republic.

On whether or not Hyundai will invest in a new combustion engine family, Albert Biermann told CarExpert, “So we keep going with combustion engines but will we set up a whole new combustion engine family? Yeah, I mean, you have to follow the emission regulations and that requires sometimes intense development. Euro 7, for example, is quite challenging. So that’s on the agenda.”

Assembly of Hyundai Sonata

Other brands that have announced the continuation of combustion engines include Mercedes-Benz which says the AMG V8 engine will live on beyond 2030, BMW which will continue to have a petrol version of the BMW 3 series alongside the electric version, and Bugatti which says it has no EVs in the plan for at least until 2030. Currently, Hyundai’s EV lineup in Malaysia consists of the Hyundai Kona electric and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Besides combustion engine cars, Hyundai also has hydrogen fuel cell cars, albeit not sold officially in Malaysia.