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| Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul on May 22. / Yonhap |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun returned to Korea after a two-week business trip to the U.S. to better seek countermeasures for the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that is set to negatively impact Hyundai Motor Group's electric vehicle (EV) sales in the U.S, according to industry officials, Monday.
Chung returned to Korea through Gimpo International Airport Saturday, 12 days after departing for the U.S. on Aug. 23.
Although Chung's overseas business trips have been frequent in the past, it is unusual for him to visit multiple destinations over such a long period. It is understood that he had multiple issues to address in hopes of developing a response plan to the implementation of the IRA that would exclude Hyundai Motor Group from receiving subsidies in the rapidly growing U.S. EV market.
Chung is said to have traveled to New York, Georgia, Los Angeles and Boston to carefully check the IRA response plan, new business, and local sales performance. In New York, it is known that he checked the negotiation strategy with local insiders ― and outsiders ― of the Hyundai Motor Group in relation to the IRA.
After that, Chung visited LA to check the impact on local sales from the IRA measure in Irvine, a city near Los Angeles, where the headquarters of Hyundai Motor America's sales division is located. Hyundai Motor Group is in a state of emergency as the IRA excludes imported EVs that are not locally produced from receiving subsidies of up to $7,500.
Afterward, it is known that he visited Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss IRA measures with local state officials. Georgia is the key base for Hyundai Motor Group's U.S. production. It has decided to build a new EV plant in Savannah, Georgia's port city, and Kia's West Point plant is already in operation. Hyundai Motor's Alabama plant is also located just 270 kilometers from Atlanta.
Chung also visited Boston, the home of the new core robotics business Boston Dynamics, which was acquired by Hyundai Motor Group. He signed a contract with NFI Industries, one of the three largest logistics companies in the U.S., to supply the logistics robot "Stretch" last week.
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