Hyundai opens new robot-run smart facility to build custom EVs
Hyundai officially opened its new Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS) this week to expand the brand in the EV era. The “smart urban mobility hub” is run by robots (even robot dogs) and AI, providing new ways to buy custom Hyundai EVs.
After surpassing Ford and GM in US EV sales in the third quarter, Hyundai (including Kia) plans to keep the momentum rolling.
Hyundai officially opened its new smart EV facility this week as part of its strategy. South Korea’s largest automaker said the new facility will “lead the company’s future in the electrification era over the next 50 years.”
The tech hub provides an immersive experience with flexible vehicle customization, VR factory tours, test rides, and even a “smart farm.”
Hyundai said the new facility “provides unprecedented ways for EV buyers to interact with their vehicles and the Hyundai brand” with robots and AI. The seven-story, 68,900 m2 facility can build 30,000 EVs per year.
Designed to revolutionize how EVs are delivered, Hyundai’s new facility uses 200 robots to carry out around 50% of all tasks.
The robots perform assembly, inspection, and production. They also manage 60% of component processing, ordering, and transport.
Hyundai’s new smart facility offers custom EVs quickly
Hyundai’s new facility can build custom EVs faster using a cell-based production system. You can customize the vehicle from home and apply it to the car instantly before putting a deposit down.
Before your first visit, you can book a virtual reality (VR) tour of the facility. Meanwhile, personal “gurus” will be available on-site for questions.
For a more immersive experience, you can test drive an EV around its 618-meter (675 yards) rooftop Skytrack.
Hyundai has also included a “smart farm” to increase the region’s food supply. Since Singapore imports 90% of its food, the government is promoting new tech like smart farms.
The smart farm produces up to nine crops at the facility. Hyundai will use them in an upcoming farm-to-table restaurant opening next year.
Hyundai has been building the IONIQ 5 at the plant since earlier this year and will add the IONIQ 6 next year. The robot-run facility will test new mobility solutions like purpose-built vehicles (PBVs).
Electrek’s Take
The news comes after Hyundai broke ground on its massive new EV plant in South Korea last week.
Hyundai has been accelerating EV momentum all year. After surpassing Ford and GM in EV sales in the US in the third quarter, Hyundai is doubling down.
Including Kia, Hyundai claimed 7.5% of the market with a combined 64,000 EVs sold, according to registration data from Automotive News. Although Tesla still leads by a wide margin (57.4%), GM (5.9%) and Ford (5.5%) fell behind.
The growth comes despite Hyundai EVs not qualifying for the $7,500 EV tax credit (only through leasing).
Hyundai also partnered with Amazon last week, enabling its EVs to be sold on the platform for the first year.
Hyundai’s global president, Jose Munoz, told Reuters, “I am still very bullish” on EVs ahead of the LA Auto show. He added, “Based on what I see, I need more. If I had more capacity today, I could sell more cars.”
Hyundai began construction on its first US EV plant in Georgia last October. A year later, the automaker says 99.9% of the foundation work is complete. Once up and running, the $5.5B mega plant will enable Hyundai EVs to qualify for the tax credit.
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The US solar industry just delivered another huge quarter, installing 11.7 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in Q3 2025. That makes it the third-largest quarter on record and pushes total solar additions this year past 30 GW – despite the Trump administration’s efforts to kneecap clean energy.
According to the new “US Solar Market Insight Q4 2025” report from Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, 85% of all new power added to the grid during the first nine months of the Trump administration came from solar and storage. And here’s the twist: Most of that growth – 73% – happened in red states.
Eight of the top 10 states for new installations fall into that category, including Texas, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Utah, Kentucky, and Arkansas. Utah jumped into the top 10 this quarter thanks to two big utility-scale projects totaling more than 1 GW.
But the report also flags major uncertainty ahead. Federal actions, including a July memo from the Department of the Interior (DOI), have slowed or stalled the approvals pipeline for utility-scale solar and storage. Without clarity on permitting timelines, Wood Mackenzie’s long-term utility-scale forecast through 2030 remains basically unchanged from last quarter.
“This record-setting quarter for solar deployment shows that the market is continuing to turn to solar to meet rising demand,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO. She added that strong growth in red states underscores how decisively the market is shifting toward clean energy. “But unless this administration reverses course, the future of clean, affordable, and reliable solar and storage will be frozen by uncertainty, and Americans will continue to see their energy bills go up.”
Two new solar module factories opened this year in Louisiana and South Carolina, adding a combined 4.7 GW of capacity. That brings the total new US module manufacturing capacity added in 2025 to 17.7 GW. With a new wafer facility coming online in Michigan in Q3, the US can now produce every major component of the solar module supply chain.
“We expect 250 GW of solar to be installed from 2025 to 2030,” said Michelle Davis, head of solar research at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report. “But the US solar industry has more potential. With rising power demand across the country, solar could do even more if current constraints were eased.”
SEIA also noted that, following an analysis of EIA data, it found that more than 73 GW of solar projects across the US are stuck in permitting limbo and at risk of politically motivated delays or cancellations.
Read more: EIA: Solar + storage soar as fossil fuels stall through September 2025
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The spiritual successor to the beloved Chevy Geo Tracker, production of the new-for-2026 electric Spark EUV has officially begun in Brazil with more than 200 miles of range.
That’s right, kids. To know the Chevy Tracker is to love the Chevy Tracker. The tiny, top-heavy Suzuki-based SUV combined bold colors, fun styling, (relatively) good fuel economy, and real off-road chops (especially in ZR2 trim) with an affordable price tag to make the Tracker an early favorite among the serious rock-crawling crowds.
Like, really
While it’s still too early to tell whether or not the all-new Chevy Spark EUV will come even close to that little proto-SUV, it seems we won’t have to wait much longer to find out – GM Authority reports that production of the 2026 Chevy Spark EUV has officially begun at Comexport’s Planta Automotiva do Ceará (PACE) plant, in the state of Ceará, Brazil.
GM Brazil invested the equivalent of $73 million to get the PACE factory ready to assemble GM’s modern, zero-emissions Chevy crossover for the South American and Middle Eastern markets – an investment big enough to earn a visit from Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was on-hand for the December 3rd kickoff event.
“It’s not a car factory,” said Comexport Vice President and PACE shareholder, Rodrigo Teixeir. “(The) goal is to develop technology there, not simply assemble a vehicle.”
Production of the new Spark EUV began last week, with production of the equally new Chevy Captiva EV set to begin as early as Q1 of 2026.
2026 Chevy Spark EUV
The Made in Brazil Chevrolet Spark EUV is heavily based on the Chinese Baojun, and is powered by that vehicle’s single 75 kW (101 hp), 180 Nm (130 lb-ft) motor driving the front wheels. Power comes from the Baojun’s 42 kWh LFP battery that, with regenerative braking, is good for up to 360 km (220 miles) on the NEDC driving cycle.
Weirdly, the new Spark is also equipped with a 10.1″ infotainment screen and 8.8″ digital instrument cluster (above) that supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard – technology that GM claims lead to “unsafe” driver behaviors in North America.
Let us know what you think of the little electric SUV, and whether or not you think it would be a hit in the US (it would) in the comments.
SOURCE: GM Authority; images by GM, Harry Situations.
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