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Sept. 17, 2025 | Hyundai Executive Chair Euisun Chung interview; EV registrations surge

Automotive News Daily Drive Sep 17, 2025 24 min

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About this episode

Hyundai's Executive Chair, Euisun Chung, discusses the company's commitment to the U.S. market amidst recent challenges, including an immigration raid affecting workers at a Georgia battery plant. The episode highlights a surge in EV registrations for legacy brands, while Tesla sees a decline. Chung emphasizes Hyundai's plans for significant investments in the U.S., focusing on customer needs and the importance of human-centered design in their strategy. The conversation also touches on the future of electrification and the role of AI in enhancing the automotive experience.

Topics: ev registrations hyundai investments immigration issues customer focus electrification artificial intelligence geopolitical challenges legacy brands tesla decline

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Welcome to Daily Drive for Wednesday, September 17th, 2025.

I'm Kellen Walker in Las Vegas.

Today on the show, EV registrations surge for legacy brands

while Tesla keeps falling.

LG works to limit the customer impact

of this month's ICE raid.

And JLR's cyber attack fallout spreads to suppliers.

Plus, we'll hear from Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair,

Yusun Chung, about the recent immigration raid in Georgia,

plans for US investments and more.

We really want to contribute more in this market.

Of course, in the world, we have some geopolitical issue,

but we are just focusing on customer.

Let's run through all the news you need to know

to keep up in the auto industry.

EV buyers rushed to dealerships in July

to claim the $7,500 tax credit

before it expires on September 30th.

According to the latest data from S&P Global Mobility,

that lifted new electric vehicle registrations

at legacy automakers by 27%.

Tesla missed out on the July surge.

It's five models lost ground compared with a year earlier.

For 13% overall decline,

Tesla dragged down total EV registrations for the month

as buyers flocked to brands such as Chevrolet,

Honda, and Volkswagen.

Those brands more than doubled their numbers

compared with the same month a year earlier.

EV registrations from all brands grew 6% in July.

EV share of the light vehicle market rose to 8.9%

from 8.5% in July 2024.

LG Energy Solution is moving ahead

with construction at US plants.

That's despite an immigration raid this month

at a Georgia battery plant it's building

with Hyundai Motor Group.

Bob Lee is president of North America

for LG Energy Solution.

He spoke this week at the Center

for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars

in Detroit.

He called discussions between the South Korean government

and the White House about visa reform,

a positive outcome.

After this crisis, the fact that I'm very

placing attention on it, I think it'd be a bit thick.

So we're very supportive of this

and we're positive that this type of thing will not happen again.

Lee's comments followed a September 4th immigration raid

at a joint venture battery plant near Savannah

that detained about 475 workers,

including more than 300 from South Korea.

The workers have since been released and returned home.

And the cyber attack that has brought

Jaguar Land Rover factories to a standstill

is affecting suppliers.

Some European parts makers have been forced to pause

or scale back their own production.

For example, German company A-Bear Spacer,

which produces exhaust systems for JLR,

was forced to suspend production at its plant

in Nitra, Slovakia after the cyber attack

more than two weeks ago.

JLR has been grappling with the fallout

from the cyber attack,

which has disrupted production for a third week.

It says its factories will remain closed

until at least September 24th.

And those are today's headlines.

You can find more details on all those stories

at autonews.com.

As I mentioned a minute ago,

the Center for Automotive Research

is holding its management briefing seminars

or MBS this week in Detroit.

It's happening inside Ford's new innovation hub

at Michigan Central,

the former train station

in the city's Corktown neighborhood.

Our own Jake Nier

spoke with Automotive News supplier reporter,

John Irwin, at the event today.

John, thanks for joining us on Daily Drive yet again.

Thanks for having me back.

So you've been here for the last couple of days

at the Center for Automotive Research's

MBS management briefing seminars.

What have been some of the highlights for you?

Yeah, it's been interesting so far.

It's sort of, there's a lot going on in the auto industry

kind of all at once and you're getting a little taste of it.

Everything from discussions centering around tariffs and trade

to artificial intelligence and machine learning

and manufacturing.

We've heard from some executives

at automakers and suppliers.

It's so far, I think a lot of what we've been hearing

from whether it's executives or analysts,

sort of everyone trying to feel the lay of the land.

I mean, it's been such an up and down

first nine months of the year.

So everyone adjusting to tariff policy

and everything else to the changing pace of electrification.

At the same time, sales have been maybe a little bit more

resilient than people were expecting.

Everyone's just kind of taking a breath a little bit.

I think an event like this helps the industry

to maybe do that.

And there's a lot of talk for me

and I cover tariffs and trade for automotive news.

And one of the things that kind of stands out

is that I think companies are really taking a really close

look at how they make their products, where they make

them, we're learning a lot about how companies

are maybe finding ways to cut costs out

of their manufacturing processes.

There are certain things that companies are doing.

They can't control geopolitics.

They can't control even in a lot of ways consumer demand.

But they can look internally to find ways

to maybe cut costs here.

They're innovating a little bit more here or there.

And I think that's sort of been the mentality

that we're seeing across the supply chain at this point.

So yeah, that's kind of been one of the big things

that stands out.

But it's interesting, this is the first year

where they've had it here in Detroit.

And it's sort of you have a little bit of everyone

in the auto industry, whether it's automakers, suppliers,

kind of everyone coming together and sort of saying,

okay, where are we at?

Let's figure this out and just go from there.

Yeah, MBS happens right on the heels

of Automotive News Congress this year

and right down the road this time.

I think one of the big stories

a lot of people have been talking about

is the Hyundai LG Energy Ice Raid earlier this month.

And at Automotive News Congress,

we heard from Hyundai executive chair Yusun Chung

who our listeners will hear from today on the show.

And then just following that here at MBS,

Bob Lee from LG Energy spoke here yesterday

to sort of, these are sort of like

two of the first high-profile comments

that we've heard from executives on that

within the last week or so.

What have people been saying here at MBS about that raid?

How is it affecting sort of the thinking about investments

and how suppliers are trying to figure out

what they're gonna do about their workforce

if they're not native-born Americans?

Yeah, it's been a big topic of discussion.

Obviously a big hot button issue right now.

I think in the short-term,

suppliers are making sure that any of their foreign workers

that are in the country,

making sure that everything's up to date

of visas and that sort of thing.

But obviously there's a big picture look of,

are we gonna be able to bring in as many people

as maybe we were anticipating when we said

we were gonna invest hundreds of millions

or billions of dollars into our facilities?

And obviously no one exactly knows the answer

to that at this point,

but I think there's definitely been a recognition

from supply base that's definitely an issue

that they're gonna have to take care of moving forward.

In terms of, and we're seeing that already

with the Hyundai LG factory

where the opening of that plant might be delayed

by maybe a couple of months, they're saying,

I mean, that there might be longer timetables

for a lot of these investments.

And especially for a lot of suppliers

that have pretty small margins

and they're really looking for a quick return

on investment, especially now.

If it's gonna take extra months

or maybe they have to scale back

to what they're planning to do in their factories

that might end up reducing the amount of investment

that actually ultimately goes into their US facilities.

I think at this point,

people are still feeling everything out,

trying to see what happens with Hyundai and LG

moving forward, but companies are kind of feeling things

out and just trying again,

trying to control what they can control at this point

and then making contingency plans

for if they need to make adjustments.

As I said to you earlier,

as a lifelong Michigander walking into this building,

always feel like I have to pinch myself.

It's just such an amazing setting for this.

John Irwin, thanks again for joining us on Daily Drive.

Thanks so much.

Coming up, we'll hear more

about the recent immigration rate

affecting Hyundai and LG workers

from Hyundai Executive Chair, Yusun Chung.

That's next on Daily Drive.

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Welcome back to Daily Drive.

I'm Kellan Walker.

Hyundai executive chair, Yusun Chung,

says the US is Hyundai's biggest

and most important market

with a very mature customer base.

That's why he says Hyundai is committed

to its US footprint.

Even after this month's ICE raid

that saw hundreds of the company's workers detained

and eventually released to return to South Korea.

Chung made the comments during his keynote interview

at Automotive News Congress with publisher Casey Crane.

Here's a piece of their conversation.

Thank you for having me here.

Yeah. And a great invitation.

Before we get started,

there was some news that occurred

in the last week down in Georgia.

Yeah.

And I know that Automotive News has covered it extensively

and it sounds like things have come

to a more positive conclusion.

And hopefully this will be the end of the situation.

Right. I'm really worrying about that incident.

And we are really glad they are returning back

to home safely.

And that's our priorities for well-being

of all those involved.

Yeah. Good.

So maybe our government and US government,

they are working closely

and the visa regulation is very complicated.

And I hope we can make together a better system for that.

Great. Yeah.

Thank you.

Biosen, it's wonderful to have you here

and it's wonderful to celebrate your family

and the progress.

The video is incredible.

Talk a little bit to the audience

about progress for humanity.

What it means to you personally

and how does the human-centered approach

shape the way you look at things?

You know, whether it's products or partnerships

or even investments.

Yeah.

Before I'm talking about humanity,

this receiving our, this is great honor

to our or families and the colleagues

for everybody, even country.

And I'm just represent our teams

and the members and suppliers, customers, dealers.

So I really thank you for all our customers

and dealers, colleagues, everybody and partners.

And without them, I couldn't sit here.

So I really appreciate that.

And especially, I really thanks to my grandfather,

founder, Ju Young Chung.

Also my father, Mong Gu Chung.

And he was not in the video.

And our fourth brother of my grandfather,

Se Young Chung, he was involved in a company.

His son, Mong Gu Chung, my uncle,

they dedicated a lot and they contribute a lot.

So I really thanks to them.

And finally, automotive news.

Without automotive news,

I couldn't learn about the automotive industry.

Yeah, because from when I was young,

I was really happy reading newspaper of automotive news.

So automotive news was kind of

is guiding light of the industry,

whole automotive industry.

So I believe in the future,

maybe after 10 years, 100 years,

when you have a gain, centennial,

then maybe you will cover probably all industry,

especially AI, IT and UAM.

So congratulations for your 100 years.

I think you're probably right, but thank you very much.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

And your next question is, yeah,

so human, humanity is in briefly progress for humanity

is a part of our human centered vision.

What we are doing for our business

and all works just for human, yeah.

We are trying to help people do their life better.

So if they're doing something

and if they're trying to achieve something,

we wanna contribute in some part of their life.

I think most of manufacturing and business,

they have a same feeling about that,

but it's very tough to making that system.

And everyone in our company,

they are focusing on their work and very hard.

We are trying to make them achieve their private goal

and achieving customers very come together, yeah.

One point, it's very tough job,

so, but we are trying to do better.

So, yeah, we are talking about the human.

And my grandfather said,

he talked about the follow the flow of the times.

It makes a lot of sense now.

Right, right, yeah.

In old times, he used to say when I was young,

but I couldn't understand what he's talking about.

But now I can understand.

Yeah.

So what is the flow?

That means I think a customer and human.

So I think that's really connected to human.

So this customer, so that's what we are approaching

to focus on that target.

Not just even me or our colleagues together.

Right, yeah.

It's so much fun having you here in Detroit

and the impact you all have had on the United States.

You've made some very major commitments to the US.

You're gonna create thousands of American jobs.

What really makes the US so important

to your global strategy?

And how are you building vehicles in America

that really resonate with Americans?

Right.

Let me just some PR of our company.

Yeah.

Yeah, Hyundai, we entered here on 1986 with Excel.

Yeah, Excel is the next model of the pony.

And so far we invest around $21 billion.

And we announced we will invest in four years,

$26 billion, including a new plant in Savannah

and a new green steel plant in Louisiana.

Yeah.

So we have 26 billion.

Right, related to our business,

about 570,000 people is employing together

all over our business.

So US business is very important to us

because we are making a strategy from the US.

This is the biggest market

and of course the most important market

because high tech and IT

and the very talent people are here.

And the customer is very mature, I think.

So long history of automotive

and the marketing and the dense sense of the sales

is amazing.

So we really wanna contribute more in this market.

And of course, in the world,

we have some geopolitical issue,

but we are just focusing on customer.

Yeah, politics is politics.

So we are trying to more focus on customer.

Smart, yeah.

When you think about EVs and electrification technology,

and the way that it influences your strategy,

how do you think about electrification

in the sense of really your vision for future mobility?

EV, we are a part of the leading group

of the EV sales and cars.

That's why I'm so proud of our R&D people

and that we have a EGMP platform.

And now we are focusing on the solid state bearing.

As we saw in your garage, museum, car, museum,

very old times, we already had an EV, right?

So early 1900s.

That's right.

So it was now reborn again.

So future EV and hydrogen is very important

for our next generation, maybe next next generation.

I don't know, maybe my granddaughter is here or not,

but she's a one and a half years old.

And after maybe 50 years,

they will enjoy maybe hybrid of EV and fuel cell EV.

Of course, tram, train, big ship,

boat is moving by hydrogen and trucks.

So also we have to protect future environment.

Yeah.

Most of the young generation of the kids,

they are always asking, how can we protect whales?

How can we protect this environment?

So we have to answer to that question.

And by showing better products

and better zero emission products,

that could be a right answer for that.

Yeah.

So we will try to more focus on that side.

Of course, it takes a lot of cost and high cost

and the steel until now, hydrogen is very expensive,

but we are trying to lowering a price

with a hydrogen council.

And even in Korea, we are using the hydrogen,

getting hydrogen from waste of food.

And so in the plant of the nuclear,

there are many places we can get hydrogen.

So lowering costs then someday,

and maybe after 30 years,

maybe we can use hydrogen fuel cell easily.

Got it.

So we've been talking a lot today about software

and how central it's really becoming

to the automotive industry.

And it's obviously an important part of the shift

for Hyundai right now,

but how do you see artificial intelligence

enhancing the next vehicles

and also transforming the customer's experience?

We are using phones and young generation,

they don't have a big attract from the car.

They prefer phone.

So we always try to car how to make them easier to use

and they wanna create a new life from going elsewhere,

finding information from the phone

and just car is a tool for just moving the place

from A to B.

So in the car,

so they wanna do something more creative things.

They don't wanna drive.

Yeah, it's wasting time and money, right?

So, but autonomous driving is a little bit long way to go.

There's too many variables.

We are investing in that area also,

but it's very difficult.

And of course we will make a try and error,

but at least we will bring that level four in soon

of to satisfy with them how to use their gadget in the car.

Right, yeah.

So somewhat you had to ask us,

ask me who you are really respected in this industry.

Is I answered Elon Musk,

Elon Musk without him,

our industry even including me never changed, maybe.

So as the big concept and the battery EV concept

is developed, he really pushed, re-opened that again.

Accelerated, yeah.

Accelerated.

So I think he's really remarkable for doing that.

Hyundai executive chair, Yusin Chung,

spoke with our publisher, Kasey Crane,

at Automotive News Congress in Detroit last week.

That's Daily Drive for today.

I'm Kellan Walker.

Thanks to Automotive News executive producer, Jake Nier,

as well as our own John Irwin,

Lauren Siliff and Lindsay Van Hully

for their reporting for today's podcast.

You can get the latest news on manufacturing,

supply chains and everything happening

in the auto industry at autonews.com.

Come back tomorrow for a conversation

with Asbury Automotive Group CEO, David Holm.

The tariffs have been unsettling.

They've been moving around.

You don't really know how it's gonna lay out.

And we're only now beginning to see

what it's gonna feel like going into the next few months.

We'd love to hear from you.

Let us know what you think of the show

and the topics we covered today.

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