What is the fundamental difference between Tesla and Hyundai. In my opinion, Tesla is a company that builds the future by selling the future, while Hyundai Motor is a company that builds the future by selling the present. Tesla sells investors expectations for the future that 'electric vehicles are the trend'. With that money, we build the future of electric cars. On the other hand, Hyundai Motor and other legacy cars sell internal combustion locomotives, which are currently mainstream. With that money, we are in a position to build a future of electric vehicles.

Chinese companies, like Tesla, are selling the future. However, the difference is that the state purchases that future. Buy the future with huge subsidies and low-interest loans. Moreover, China has never been competitive in internal combustion locomotives. So I went straight to the electric car. Already, 80% of new cars in Chinese companies are electric vehicles (including hybrids). It is making the future of electric vehicles a reality faster than anyone else.

The reason why electric vehicles are the future is that there is a response to climate change, but what is really important is self-driving. Electric cars are absolutely advantageous for autonomous driving. For example, someone jumped into the road, and if the car responds slowly, it's easy to get into an accident. Electric cars respond 10 times faster than gasoline-powered cars. In addition, self-driving cars have many parts that consume a lot of electricity, such as sensors and computing equipment. There is a limit to the small battery of an internal combustion engine. This is why electric cars are the future.

Hyundai has a handicap in preparing for the future. Tesla and Chinese companies are all-in on electric cars, but Hyundai has to build internal combustion locomotives and electric cars at the same time. The former is a hierarchical and planning-oriented culture due to its manufacturing nature, which requires tens of thousands of parts to be assembled without error. On the other hand, electric vehicle companies such as Tesla and Xiaomi have a software-oriented culture that allows for quick failure and re-challenge. Hyundai needs two completely different cultures to coexist in one house. Moreover, we have to raise the latter with the money earned by the former. Conflict is inevitable.

Chinese companies have made strides with the full support of the state without such a conflict structure. The European Union (EU) responded with tariffs in October last year, but Chinese cars' market share only rose. The EU has delayed the timing of the electric vehicle transition due to its desperate measures. It has withdrawn its policy of allowing only the sale of electric vehicles from 2035.

But this year's future is bound to come. In China, half of the new cars already have 'Level 2' autonomous driving capabilities. The car moves the steering wheel on its own, accelerates and brakes. Robotic taxis (autonomous driving taxis) are also commercially operating in at least 10 cities. HSBC assessed that China's robo-taxi industry is on the threshold of a commercial leap forward. Goldman Sachs predicts that sales will reach $50 billion by 2035 with 1.9 million robotaxis operating. Safety concerns are also gradually being lifted. U.S. robotaxi company Waymo reported a 92% decrease in physical injuries compared to human driving vehicles.

Is that why. The UK weekly The Economist wrote that the EU's slowdown in the transition to electric vehicles "could be poisonous to Western companies." Electric cars would be a cheaper option for consumers, and the reason was that slowing down would not catch up with China forever. Of course, the EU's actions can buy time for legacy companies. If you use that margin to make all-out efforts to secure competitiveness in electric vehicles, it will be a medicine, and if you settle for an internal combustion engine, it will be a poison.

Apple founder Steve Jobs said, "If you don't first cananibalize your business, others will." If Hyundai does not destroy its internal combustion engine business first, the Chinese company will do so. Self-driving electric vehicles from Chinese companies will drive out Hyundai's internal combustion locomotive. Hyundai Motor can bring an autonomous driving operating system made by a Chinese company and end up making only the shell of a car.

[Kim Insoo Editorial Writer]