Hyundai Motor Co. has announced plans to mass produce hybrid electric vehicles starting next year, opening a new era for environmentally-friendly cars.
Chung Mong Koo, Hyundai-Kia chairman, said the company will mass produce environmentally-friendly cars from 2009 to create new jobs and develop the industry into a next-generation value-adding growth engine.

"The importance of developing futuristic, environmentally-friendly cars is increasing for sustainable growth," Chung said. "Therefore, technology for advanced cars, like the hybrid, is imperative. We also plan to produce a small fleet of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV)rom 2012."

To meet its 2009 mass production target, Hyundai's plans to develop technology, create a mass production system and expand model line-up.

In accordance with this plan, Hyundai will begin its first mass production with the compact-sized Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) model, the Avante (Elantra) LPI (Liqufied Petroleum Injection) hybrid, a car that uses both LPG and electricity. By 2010, Hyundai plans to introduce mid-sized hybrids that use gasoline and LPG.

Currently, Hyundai provides Verna (Accent) hybrid models to government agencies as pilot projects. The plan is to expand the line-up to mid-sized sedans and beyond for mass production, starting from 2009.

Environment friendly
Hyundai entered the environmentally-friendly auto market in October 2004, when it supplied the government with 50 Click (Getz) hybrid cars. Since then, Hyundai and Kia have supplied the government with 350 hybrid cars in 2005, including the Verna model. This number increased to 730 cars in 2006 and 1,682 cars in 2007, totaling about 2,800 cars so far.

Based on the technology accumulated from producing these cars, Hyundai will from 2009 mass produce hybrid cars that use LPG, which creates less pollution than conventional cars. Hyundai is also kicking its development plans into full gear with the aim to mass produce FCEV beginning 2012.

Hyundai plans to expand a demo fleet of FCEV's to 500 units by 2010, including mid-to-large size SUVs, and establish a small production system to begin mass production from 2012.