Tag Archives: Olabisi Boyle

Hyundai’s Boyle: Going Beyond the Singular Transaction

Posted on by
Reply

By Gary S. Vasilash

One thing that Olabisi Boyle, senior vice president, Product Planning & Mobility Strategy, Hyundai Motor North America, points out that is probably something that many people don’t know is this:

  • On a global basis Hyundai Motor Group (including Genesis and Kia) is the third-largest OEM. Not General Motors. Not Stellantis. Hyundai. Behind Toyota and Volkswagen Group.

In the U.S., the company’s sales have been growing with consistency:

  • In 2023 it had total sales of 801,000 vehicles, up 11% over 2022 sales (724,000)
Hyundai’s Boyle is working to expand ways that customers interact with the company’s products, well beyond the drive. (Image: Hyundai)

One of the areas that Boyle is keen on is the development of the market for what she terms the “early majority” for electric vehicles, moving beyond the “early adopters.”

Hyundai has long (comparatively speaking) been in the EV space and at present the brand offers the Kona Electric, IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6.* (It also has the Nexo—which is a fuel-cell based EV.)

Massive & Flexible

Hyundai Motor Group is constructing what it calls “Metaplant America” near Savannah, Georgia, a complex on a 2,923-acre site that includes a vehicle assembly plant as well as a battery plant. Plans call for the $7.59-billion plant to go into production early in 2025. It will build the IONIQ 5, IONIQ 6, Genesis GV60 and Electrified GV70 vehicles, as well as the XCIENT class 8 fuel-cell truck.

Boyle says that the Metaplant, which will have an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, is sufficiently flexible such that if the demand dictates, it can also produce combustion engine-equipped vehicles.

Beyond Vehicles

But Boyle’s view of Hyundai’s efforts in the mobility space go well beyond particular vehicles to something that can be thought of as an entire infrastructure. If it’s a gas-powered vehicle, then the ability to pay through the touchscreen of the Hyundai. If it is an electric vehicle, then the ability to work through the Hyundai Home Marketplace to get what’s needed for home charging. If it is a question of obtaining an EV for a short period (e.g., month-to-month), there is Evolve+ that makes this real. If it is a matter of finding and paying for parking, there’s an app for that.

Hyundai Home helps EV customers get what they need to equip their residences for seamless electric vehicle operation. (Image: Hyundai)

In other words Boyle and her colleagues are looking at a consumer’s engagement with Hyundai as something more than a transaction that occurs at a dealership once every few years. Rather, it is something that they are building out so that the company can provide things that are helpful, not intrusive, things that facilitate everyday activities, not complicate them.

They certainly want to grow the number of vehicles that are purchased.

But they recognize that there is a market shift going on, one that they are helping propel.

==

*And it also has “electrified” vehicles including hybrid versions of the Elantra, Sonata and Tucson, with the Tucson also as a plug-in hybrid.

How Hyundai Is Becoming a Mobility Company, Explained

Posted on by
Reply

Explained with a remarkable level of enthusiasm by Olabisi Boyle

By Gary S. Vasilash

Without question, Hyundai is one of the most innovative companies in the automotive industry right now. The company has on offer vehicles with traditional engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electrics, and even fuel-cells. It has a joint venture with autonomous tech supplier Aptiv that’s called “Motional” that is developing self-driving vehicle tech. It has an urban air mobility operation that is developing that mode of transport.

If it is just a consideration of what it has on the road in terms of its cars and utilities, the level of design exceeds that of most any other automaker that isn’t providing vehicles that start at six-figure levels.

And while it once was that its quality was cringe—worthy, in the 2021 J.D. Power U.D. Vehicle Dependability Study Hyundai ranks seventh and is well above average.

Hyundai’s Boyle: Helping make the transformation to mobility. (Image: Hyundai)

To learn more about the company, on this edition of “Autoline After Hours” we talk with Olabisi Boyle, vice president of Product Planning and Mobility Strategy for Hyundai Motor North America.

Her duties range from short-term planning to pricing, from analytics to strategy.

Boyle joined HMNA from Visa, where she had been the vice president of Connected Commerce.

As she explains to freelance writer Nicole Wakelin, Jeff Gilbert of WWJ 950, and me, she was recruited by Visa because they were interested in her background—which includes some 20 years at both Ford and what was then Fiat Chrysler. (She had been the chief engineer of the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan.)

Notable for anyone in any industry, Boyle has a B.S. in industrial engineering from Columbia University, a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Columbia, and a B.S. in physics from Fordham University.

Just looking at her resume gives you the clear notion that this is someone who is really about achievement.

And the level of enthusiasm that she has is absolutely refreshing, as you clearly get the sense that she not only enjoys what she is doing, but that she recognizes that what she is doing is beneficial, not only for Hyundai, but for society at large (e.g., there are big efforts being made in the arena of using hydrogen for not only vehicles, but for other energy applications; this is a means by which there can be a significant reduction in carbon emissions).

You can see the interview with Boyle—as well as a discussion afterwards on a variety of topics, from EVs to the J.D. Power APEAL study—right here.