Hyundai Union Boss Concerned Electric Cars Will Cut Jobs
5 H BY STEVEN LOVEDAY 4
Hyundai’s union boss isn’t taking the transition to electric cars lightly and he’s sharing his anxiety publicly.
Despite the fact that Hyundai is beginning to push hard with electric vehicles, the company’s South Korean union leader Ha Bu-young is very concerned. In a recent interview with Reuters, he explained that these future vehicles stand to eliminate jobs since they are more simple to manufacture than their ICE counterparts. He shared (via The Drive):
Electric cars are disasters. They are evil. We are very nervous.
Hyundai IONIQ Electric
It’s pretty clear that he’s not just concerned, but rather has a hate for EVs. According to Bu-Young’s estimates, Hyundai could face a 70 percent job loss, due to the emergence of electric vehicles.
Fortunately, however, he also added that over the next 15 years 30,000 to 50,000 current employees will be set to retire. This may work to absorb the job-loss issue.
Related: Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid Coming After 2019
The union leader explained that the organization is in the process of attempting to figure out how to assure that the transition isn’t devastating. A union group is working on getting specific numbers of future impact and creating a plan.
South Korea has a history of struggling automotive companies. According to The Drive, GM is set to shutter one of its factories there, due to lows sales and the high cost of labor. In fact, the Big Three automaker may eventually shut down four plants in the country.
Nonetheless, Hyundai (along with its sister company, Kia) continue to broaden their EV reach. Hyundai/Kia currently sell the IONIQ Electric and Kia Soul EV, among other plug-in hybrid variants of ICE cars. The battery-electric Kona is just one of a mix of electric vehicles the company is bringing to market over a short period of time.
HYUNDAI KONA
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Source: The Drive
Categories: Hyundai
4 responses to "Hyundai Union Boss Concerned Electric Cars Will Cut Jobs"
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This is not good. Not at all.
You want employees to feel themselves part of ” special forces” of an challenging trandition and a better future. Not culprits of their own BK.
I can’t see how this is good for the transition to EVs.
At the same time; Why is Ford saying the EV market is not profitable yet, if they could save 70% costs of employees?
Is this Hyundai union dude well informed, or is it all”as a matter of speaking”?
Because battery/cells are expensive. Although these steps are highly automated (much more to come), material costs and capex are very important.
And less labor costs do not balance with high battery costs.
The genie is out of the bottle , either you will be making electric cars or you wont be making cars at all. They could not make enough Hyundai Ioniqs where I live ( Ireland ) . A year waiting list . And the Hyundai Kona long range will be a blockbuster.
Hyundai are stealing the march in the EV, if played right I dont think there will be a shortage of work for the next decade at least
This is a well known fact. And don’t forget that Musk wants a completely robotic factory.
And there will be a job loss in service, too.
This industrial sector will be less important for the job market. So we need to focus on different sectors to provide new jobs.