Hyundai Looks Beyond Making Cars

Like other automakers in recent years, Hyundai is thinking beyond just making cars and will focus on mobility as a whole. That might sound like a dumb move for any car company, but there was a time when many of the legacy brands were making wagons, bicycles, airplanes, and other forms of transportation.

Under this new strategy, Hyundai will transition into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider by 2025. It’s a way to expand into more transportation areas, like how Hyundai makes heavy trucks. The official press release mentions targeting service businesses as well as individual people who don’t have cars.

How Hyundai plans on accomplishing these goals is where things get really wild. It’s talking about creating a personal air vehicle, which could be a flying car, a drone large enough to transport people, or something else. Robotics will figure largely into the solution, something other automakers have dabbled in.

Finally, there’s the last-mile mobility. That means how you get from your car, public transportation, etc. to your final destination. This is a real issue in dense urban environments, where solutions like electric scooters have proliferated.

Of course, Ford was all about Smart Mobility a few years ago. Now it’s slapping Mustang badges on electric crossovers. So who knows where this will lead for Hyundai.