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2026 CEO Investor Day: Key takeaways

Ambitious earnings and sales targets; robotics and SDV plans reaffirmed

Hyundai Motor (HMC) held its 2026 CEO Investor Day event on Aug. 26. The firm maintained its 2026 OP margin guidance and modestly raised its 2030 target from 8-9% to above 9%. For new businesses attracting significant market attention, including robotics and software-defined vehicles (SDVs), its plans were largely unchanged from previous announcements. HMC plans to announce the site for its US robot production facility by year-end. For SDVs, it plans to complete preparations for mass production by end-2027 and launch its first model in early 2028. HMC also aims to surpass competitors in cumulative autonomous driving trainable data by 2033. It maintained its shareholder return targets and announced the cancellation of W800bn worth of treasury shares.

Earnings outlook: HMC maintained its 2026 OP margin guidance of 6.3-7.3% but modestly raised its 2030 target from 8-9% to above 9%, reflecting a higher HEV mix and cost reductions. By 2030, the company aims to lower its COGS ratio by 3%p through cost innovation, material cost reductions, and increased localization.

Wholesale volume: HMC did not provide an update on its 2026 wholesale volume target, while maintaining its 2030 target of 5.55mn units. While geographical mix targets were unchanged for North America, Europe, Korea, and India, the company slightly lowered the target shares for the Middle East/Africa and Asia-Pacific and modestly raised those of Latin America and China. For China, HMC maintained the aggressive target announced in March of selling 500,000 units by 2030.

Robotics/Boston Dynamics: HMC maintained its targets of beginning US robot production in 2028, establishing annual capacity of 30,000 units, and securing initial demand for 25,000 units. The company plans to announce the site for its planned US robot production facility by year-end. Regarding a potential spin-off of Robotics LAB, currently under the advanced vehicle platform (AVP) division, management said it would provide an update once a decision has been made.

Autonomous driving: HMC maintained its target of completing preparations for SDV mass production by end-2027 and launching the first model in early 2028. It did not provide an update on when it would unveil its SDV prototype (“Pace Car” project); the existing target is early 2027. A 100MW data center is scheduled to begin operations in 2029, and HMC aims to surpass competitors in cumulative trainable data by 2033. For robotaxis, Motional began pilot operations with Uber in March and maintained its target of launching a driverless commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas by year-end. Ioniq 5 deliveries to Waymo are also proceeding as planned.