Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 19

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

TALK FROM THE TOP

and small cars] are so important in Europe. In Italy, those segments account
for 50 percent of the market. We will
have to have an A-segment car that is
electric. Our goal is to have an electric
car in almost every main segment where
we compete. Even if it's not confirmed
today, I think we have no choice.
How much is a well-equipped Picanto?
Let's say 16,000 to 17,000 euros.
Is that close to what you could charge
for an electric Picanto?
That would be a very reasonable price for
an electric Picanto - 16,000 to 17,000
euros. But it's not easy. Even that is a
challenge. Now, if we think that the government's support will still be there, then
the price difference can be offset by the
subsidies. But take a country like France,
which is heavily pushing EVs. The government is giving 6,000 euros for an EV, plus
another 2,500 if you scrap your vehicle.
That's a huge investment of public money.
If the share of EVs gets to 20 percent, and
you have to pay 6,000 euros for each one
... is that sustainable? And besides, a lot
of the income from governments in Europe also comes from taxes on gasoline
and diesel fuel. If we reduce fuel consumption, maybe they tax electricity, so
electric cars are going to become more
expensive to charge.

Our goal is
to have an electric
car in almost every
main segment
where we compete
... I think we
have no
choice.

It's improving. We have managed to secure more supply from local suppliers,
but it was very difficult to increase the
supply this year.

But the problem next year and in
2021 is that you will need the batteries in Europe. Otherwise, you will pay
big fines for missing EU CO2 reduction targets, right?
Correct. This is exactly what I told our
vice chairman [Euisun Chung]: Either
we have the EVs, or we have to pay
huge fines. I told him there are five
possible scenarios. 1) You pay the fine,
to become a mass-produced vehicle in which is a no-go at a Korean company.
one or two years and to have a dedi- 2) You reduce your volume significantly
cated electric platform.
to offset the CO2. 3) Pool with Tesla. 4)
Leave the European markets, which is
Are plug-in hybrids a long-term soluwhat Infiniti did. 5) Make sure you have
tion in Europe?
enough EVs so that they offset the CO2
With today's range of nearly 60 km, peo- from the combustion cars. That is what
ple who consistently charge the battery we will do.
at home can use it to commute to work
every day using only the electric motor. How will that work?
Plug-in hybrid sales, however, have been We're lucky to have the cars and more
very volatile. Demand really depends on batteries starting next year so that the
the support given by the different govern- 40,000 EVs we plan to sell will help us
ments. The best example is the UK. Once offset the CO2 from the rest of the cars.
the government removed its support How will the market evolve in 2020
plug-in hybrid sales dropped 50 percent. as the new CO2 limits take effect?
People are not ready to buy them. Something similar happened in the Netherlands. The number of cars offered in the marMeanwhile Sweden in July 2018 started a ket will decline. Therefore, there will be
scheme that was favorable to plug-in hy- less price competition than we have this
brids so sales skyrocketed. Fifty percent year. I have heard competitors say they
of our sales in Sweden are plug in hybrids. will cut sales to rental cars. The same is
We have our highest market share ever true for self-registrations, which are also
in Sweden because of that. In the future less profitable.
the different technologies will coexist and How many EVs will you sell this year?
manufacturers will have to find the right This year we will sell 20,000 batterybalance. One area where we are all chal- electric vehicles and 15,000 plug-in hylenged is by the limited supply of batteries. brids between Optima and Niro. We will
also sell 30,000 Niro hybrids.
Is it also true for plug-in hybrids?

Would having EVs on the same platforms as combustion cars give you
more flexibility?
If you have a dedicated EV platform, it's
easier and the packaging is also easier. If
you have a traditional platform, let's say
the one we use for the Ceed, and you want
to make this car an electric vehicle, it's not
so easy because of the packaging. Where
do you put the battery? It's feasible but
it's more complicated. If you start with an It's the same, only the battery is smaller.
electric platform, it is much easier.
We have signed contracts with just two
Does that mean the electric Picanto suppliers, LG Chem and SK Innovation.
When we signed those contracts two or
would be on a dedicated platform?
The only vehicle it could share its plat- three years ago, nobody was expecting
form with is the Hyundai i10, if they these sales figures.

How many of those 35,000 full-electric and plug-in hybrids are sold to
fleets?
It's a very low percentage, lower than for
combustion cars. Even when we sell to
fleets, we don't give them big discounts
because there is more demand than supalso wanted to build an electric ver- How long are those contracts?
sion. More generally, in the future we We are trying to renegotiate them, but ply from the many corporations that want
will have both dedicated EV platforms it's not easy because they are seeing de- to have green fleets. For example, [German software company] SAP asked us for
and flexible platforms for both combusmand from every manufacturer.
EVs and we told then we could only detion cars and EVs. One example is the
Imagine concept we showed at the Ge- So the battery availability problem liver 100, which is less than they wanted,
so I don't have to give a discount. ANE
neva show this year. The plan is for this isn't solved yet?

2019

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Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019

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