이 기사는 2021년 12월 01일 08:10 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Hyundai Motor is gearing up for expansion into Japan, a dozen years after its exit from the market dominated by domestic players in 2009, as the South Korean automobile giant seeks to capitalize on a global shift to electric vehicles.

Hyundai Motor is weighing when to enter the Japanese auto market, with this potentially happening as soon as next year, according to industry sources. President and chief executive Chang Jae-hoon told Japanese media in early November that the automaker is in the final stages of reviewing its plan to enter the Japanese market, describing the country as “an advanced market and the world’s strictest market”.

The South Korean auto giant’s first venture into the world’s third largest economy in the 2000s failed to lure Japanese customers who are very loyal to domestic car brands. Hyundai Motor entered the market in 2000 as a late mover and started selling its vehicles there in January of the following year through its subsidiary Hyundai Motor Japan Co Ltd.

Hyundai Motor’s auto sales in Japan continued to increase from 1,113 units in 2001 to 2,524 in 2004, with the cumulative sales exceeding 10,000 units in 2005. Despite that, its share remained below 1% among imported car brands – not even in the whole auto market – in Japan. Its car sales slumped to 1,000 in 2008, leading to the company’s decision to exit the country in 2009.

Japan is one of the most difficult markets for foreign automakers to penetrate. Toyota rules the market with a roughly 30% share, with other domestic automakers such as Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi together accounting for more than 60%. In contrast, imported car brands hold a combined market share of only 7-8% in Japan, a figure that little changed compared with the 2000s.

Hyundai Motor has two wholly owned subsidiaries in Japan, Hyundai Motor Japan and Hyundai Motor Japan R&D Center Inc. They have continued to monitor the Japanese market even after the company’s exit from the country.

Above all, the global transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric cars has affected Hyundai Motor’s decision to enter the Japanese market again, sources said. The Japanese government earlier this year announced a plan to completely phase out gasoline-powered vehicles in the country by 2035, raising its net zero ambition in line with global trends.

Global automakers including Hyundai Motor have been ramping up investments in electric vehicles in the past years, with Hyundai Motor’s new eco-friendly models – such as pure electric vehicle Ioniq 5 and hydrogen fuel vehicle Nexo – are attracting strong interest from buyers.

Electric car sales in Japan were 14,604 units last year, lower than the levels in China, Europe and the US, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, suggesting a large potential to grow in the coming years.

“We are reviewing our plan to enter the Japanese market in the long term considering trends of the global auto industry,” said an official at Hyundai Motor, adding that details have not finalized yet. (Reporting by Su-jin Yoo)