Kia is currently building a new plant in South Korea’s Gyeonggi province dedicated to the production of battery-powered PBVs of various sizes and specifications.

The Tata Daewoo company was founded in 1995 as Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company Ltd and was acquired by India’s Tata Motors Ltd in 2004.

The Kia Tasman will be the Hyundai Motor Group’s first one-ton pickup truck when it goes on sale in global markets in 2025.

The deal, understood to be worth KRW13trn (USD9.4bn), comes a year after the two companies decided to scrap plans to build a battery manufacturing joint venture in Turkey due to weakening demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe.

Established last year, ‘Our Next Energy Korea Ltd’ was based out of an office in Hwaseong and employed less than ten people.

The Elec City is powered by a 180-kW fuel cell system, feeding off an 875-litre hydrogen tank to charge its 78.4 kWh high-capacity battery pack.

GLS has helped Hyundai roll out more of its HFC trucks in the marketplace. The Xcient has been deployed in 10 countries, including the U.S., Switzerland, Germany, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Korea, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Under the ‘Be a First Mover in Hydrogen’ theme, Hyundai showcased its hydrogen business and technologies covering the entire hydrogen value chain - developed mostly under its HTWO division.

Kia unveiled a range of highly customizable PBV models and related eco-system during 2024 at various key shows; CES in Las Vegas, Busan Mobility Show in South Korea and at IAA in Hannover, Germany.

Both companies are heavily invested in hydrogen as a clean fuel transportation solution.

South Korea’s commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw continued to decline in the second quarter of 2024, by over 12% to 53,662 units from 61,318 units in the same period of last year.

Sales for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in East Asia’s seven main markets, excluding China, continued to decline in the second quarter of 2024.