Hyundai Going Green with 26 New Environmentally Friendly Cars by 2020

IONIQ Plug-in (Credit: © Hyundai)

Hyundai Motor Group, which includes the Kia and Hyundai brands, is looking to make up for lost time in the world of green cars, according to Automotive News. Being based in Korea made it hard for the automaker to develop all the necessary technology needed to keep pace with the leader in this technology, Toyota, but the Korean auto group is due to make a huge push in the next few years to become a leader in this segment.

The plan is to have 26 green models—hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric, hydrogen, etc.—by the year 2020. This may seem like an aggressive plan on the surface, but this includes currently known models, so it really only needs to create 14 new models as there are 12 current green cars currently available from the group or in development. The latter group includes the new range of IONIQ vehicles and the Niro Hybrid crossover.

While this is a great plan, the timing isn’t ideal as low fuel prices have spurred the sale of trucks and SUV but stalled EV and hybrid sales. Lee Ki-Sang, the head of Hyundai’s green powertrain division, is “also worrying” about gas prices but realizes that the company needs to penetrate this segment sooner rather than later.

I can say that I wholeheartedly agree with Lee. Despite how low gas prices are right now, anyone with any knowledge of fuel prices knows that prices always go back up… always.

We’ll keep an eye on Hyundai’s growing green-car offering and bring you updates as they become available.