Hyundai Motor Group (005380) will develop Brazil as a core hub for its South American hydrogen business. The group unveiled a plan to build a hydrogen ecosystem spanning from green hydrogen production to hydrogen trucks in cooperation with Brazilian authorities.
According to industry sources on the 29th, Hyundai Motor Group announced the plan at the Korea-Brazil Business Roundtable held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the 28th.
In line with Brazil’s decarbonization policy, Hyundai Motor Group will actively pursue new markets in hydrogen mobility, including commercial hydrogen vehicles, along with new businesses in hydrogen and renewable energy such as green hydrogen production, hydrogen fuel cell system supply, and renewable energy power plant construction. The group also plans to secure mid- to long-term growth drivers by strengthening industry-academia cooperation with institutions such as the University of Sao Paulo.
In particular, Hyundai Motor Group set a goal to build an integrated solution across the entire hydrogen process based on the individual capabilities of its affiliates. Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Mobis will handle hydrogen electric vehicles and fuel cell systems, Hyundai Glovis will handle hydrogen storage and transportation, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hyundai Engineering will handle the energy and plant business.
“We have competitiveness in the hydrogen mobility field based on fuel cell technology and manufacturing capabilities, and we have the ability to implement an integrated solution across the entire process of hydrogen production, distribution, and utilization by leveraging the group’s capabilities,” a Hyundai Motor Group official said.
Hyundai Motor Group also plans to expand low-carbon energy sources such as small modular reactors (SMR), led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction.
Hyundai Motor Group’s Brazil hydrogen business plan began in earnest with Chairman Euisun Chung’s visit to Brazil in 2024. At the time, he met with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and announced that the group would invest a total of $1.1 billion (about 1.6 trillion won) in Brazil’s eco-friendly technology and hydrogen industry by 2032. To this end, Hyundai Motor Group established an organization dedicated to the Latin American hydrogen business. Chung then said, “Hyundai Motor Group will actively contribute to Brazil’s hydrogen infrastructure and mobility sectors.”
Hyundai Motor Group also plans to target the local hydrogen mobility ecosystem based on its finished vehicle plant located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The plant in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo state, which began operations in 2012, has produced the HB20, a strategic model for Brazil, and the Creta, a sport utility vehicle (SUV). Hyundai Motor’s sales in Brazil exceeded 200,000 units in both 2024 and 2025, and it sold a total of 96,723 units in the first half of this year.
The industry sees a strong possibility that Hyundai Motor will use its local finished vehicle production base for its hydrogen strategy. Because facilities of affiliates such as Hyundai Mobis are concentrated there, the company has the foundation to accelerate the development and mass production of commercial hydrogen vehicles.
Meanwhile, when asked at the roundtable that day about the outlook for Brazil sales and his impressions, Chung answered, “We still have a long way to go.”
