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Hyundai outlines ambitious U.S. growth plans weeks after ICE immigration raid at battery plant
Jose Munoz, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor Company, speaks during a media tour and grand opening at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, March 26, 2025, in Ellabell, Ga.
Mike Stewart | AP
NEW YORK — Hyundai Motor reinforced aggressive growth plans Thursday through the end of the decade, despite lowering its profit outlook for the year due to tariffs.
The new targets call for an operating profit margin this year of between 6% and 7%, down from 7% to 8%, and an increase in revenue of between 5% and 6% — up 2 percentage points — compared with 175.2 trillion South Korean won (US$12.7 billion) in 2024.
The South Korean automaker revised its financial targets Thursday ahead of a CEO investor day in New York City. It is the first time the company has hosted the event outside of South Korea as well as the first time CEO José Muñoz — who was promoted to the top job at the automaker beginning this year — led the meeting.
Along with revising financial targets, the world’s third-largest automaker reconfirmed its ambitious growth plans that include increasing annual sales to 5.55 million by 2030. Such results would mark a roughly 34% increase from its global sales last year of 4.14 million units.
Muñoz opened the meeting by discussing the company’s expansion plans, largely fueled by the U.S., which he called the “engine of growth” for the automaker. Hyundai is currently in the process of investing $26 billion from 2025 to 2028 to expand its operations in America.
“This isn’t just about tariff mitigation, it is about building the most advanced, efficient manufacturing ecosystem in the automotive industry,” he said during the event, adding the U.S. is its largest opportunity for expanding localized manufacturing.
Hyundai aims to have more than 80% of its U.S. vehicle sales be produced locally by 2030. That compares to roughly 40% currently. That is expected to include a Hyundai-developed midsize pickup truck as well as potentially a more rugged SUV than the company currently offers, Muñoz said Thursday.
“I think it’s long overdue,” Muñoz told reporters after the event, calling it “a big opportunity.”
The CEO investor event is occurring at an inopportune time for the company, as well as relations between the U.S. and South Korea.
A masked federal agent wearing a Homeland Security Investigations vest guards a site during a raid where about 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested at the site of a $4.3 billion project by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution to build batteries for electric cars in Ellabell, Georgia, U.S. September 4, 2025 in a still image taken from a video.
U.s. Immigration And Customs Enf | Via Reuters
The New York meeting comes weeks after hundreds of workers were arrested during an immigration raid at a jointly owned battery plant between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution in Georgia.
About 475 workers, including more than 300 South Koreans, were arrested in the Sept. 4 raid at the plant in Ellabell, Georgia, according to U.S. immigration officials. Many workers who were detained returned home via a chartered plane following discussions between South Korea and U.S. officials.
Muñoz confirmed Thursday that those detained worked for suppliers, with no Hyundai employees being arrested.
The raid, which was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s history, was conducted over suspicions about “unlawful” visas or immigration status of workers at the site, U.S. officials have said.
At the beginning of the Thursday meeting, Muñoz expressed “our sincere empathy” for the workers and their families who were impacted by the raid. He said he hopes the U.S. and South Korea can work together to resolve the issue and continue the healthy relationship between the two countries.
“As our executive chair said last week, we hope the U.S. and Korea can work on mutually beneficial solutions for short-term business travel, especially for specialized technical expertise,” Muñoz said.
His comments on visas echoed those from Bob Lee, North American president of LG Energy Solution. Lee on Monday said that may be the “one positive” to come from all this and expressed optimism about the company being able to avoid such actions in the future.
“We’re very supportive of this and we’re cautiously optimistic that this type of thing will not happen again,” Lee said at a Center for Automotive Research conference in Detroit.
New Delhi: If you often use your HDFC Bank debit card for free airport lounge access, this update is important for you. The bank has changed how complimentary lounge entry works on its debit cards. Instead of simply swiping your card at the lounge, customers will now need a digital voucher to get access. Also, the minimum spending requirement has been increased, reported Moneycontrol. These new rules will come into effect from January 10, and will apply to eligible debit cardholders going forward.
How the New Lounge Voucher System Works
Once your eligibility is confirmed, HDFC Bank will send you an SMS or email with a link to claim your lounge access voucher. You’ll need to verify your request by entering an OTP sent to your registered mobile number. You will receive a voucher code or QR code after successful verification which must be shown at the airport lounge to get entry.
Minimum Spend Requirement Increased
Under the revised rules, HDFC Bank debit card users will now need to spend at least Rs 10,000 in a calendar quarter to be eligible for complimentary airport lounge access. Earlier, the minimum spend required was Rs 5,000.
However, this condition will not apply to HDFC Infiniti Debit Card holders. Customers using the Infiniti card will continue to enjoy free lounge access without any minimum spending requirement.
Eligible Transactions and Free Lounge Visits by Card Type
Only purchase transactions made using the debit card will be considered while calculating the quarterly spending requirement. Other types of transactions will not be counted, as noted by Moneycontrol.
Meanwhile, the number of complimentary lounge visits remains unchanged and continues to depend on the debit card variant:
Millennia Debit Card: 1 free visit per quarter
Platinum Debit Card: 2 free visits per quarter
Times Points Debit Card: 1 free visit per quarter
Business Debit Card: 2 free visits per quarter
GIGA Debit Card: 1 free visit per quarter
Infiniti Debit Card: 4 free visits per quarter
This means cardholders should check both their spending eligibility and card type to know how many lounge visits they can enjoy.
Which Transactions Count and Voucher Validity Explained
Only purchase transactions made using the debit card will be counted towards the quarterly spending requirement. As per Moneycontrol, the following transactions will not be included:
ATM cash withdrawals
UPI or wallet payments (GPay, PhonePe, Paytm, etc.)
Credit card bill payments made via debit card
Debit card EMI transactions
New debit cardholders will also need to meet the Rs 10,000 spending requirement to become eligible for complimentary lounge access.
Voucher Validity:
Once issued, the lounge access voucher will remain valid till the end of the next calendar quarter, after which it will expire if not used.
What This Means for Debit Card Users
With the updated lounge access rules, HDFC Bank is clearly encouraging higher card usage and digital verification. Customers who regularly use complimentary lounge benefits will now need to keep a close watch on their quarterly spending and complete the voucher process in advance. As per Moneycontrol, physical debit card swipes will no longer work from January 10, making it important for travellers to switch to the new digital voucher system.
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has amended NPS exit and withdrawal rules to give subscribers greater flexibility, choice and control over their retirement savings.
The revised rules primarily target the non-government sector, where NPS participation is voluntary, covering both All Citizen and Corporate subscribers.
Non-government subscribers with an NPS corpus of more than Rs 12 lakh can now withdraw up to 80% of their savings as a lump sum, with only 20% mandatorily allocated to an annuity.
For All Citizen subscribers, the minimum lock-in period for premature exit has been removed, easing access to accumulated pension wealth.
At normal exit, non-government NPS subscribers can now withdraw up to 80% of their corpus as lump sum, with the mandatory annuity portion reduced to 20%.
The threshold for 100% lump-sum withdrawal has been raised significantly, with greater flexibility through systematic lump-sum or unit withdrawals for mid-sized corpuses.
Individuals joining NPS after age 60 will no longer face a vesting period and will also be eligible for up to 80% lump-sum withdrawal at exit.
Up to 25% of own contribution can be withdrawn for housing, medical needs, or loan repayment, with clearer timelines.
While core annuity requirements for government subscribers remain unchanged, higher corpus thresholds and systematic withdrawal options have been introduced.
The maximum entry and exit age under NPS has been increased to 85 years, allowing subscribers to stay invested longer.
Subscribers can now seek financial assistance from regulated institutions, with lenders allowed to mark lien on up to 25% of the subscriber’s own NPS contribution.
By simplifying exits, expanding withdrawal choices and improving liquidity, the amendments aim to make NPS more inclusive while safeguarding long-term retirement income.
Seoul: South Korea aims to cut carbon emissions at its international airports by 10 percent by 2030 while expanding the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a government report showed on Sunday.
Under the blueprint for the 2026-2030 period, set by the transport, environment and industry ministries, carbon emissions at South Korea’s international airports are projected to reach 29.8 million tons in 2030, up 28 percent from 23.3 million tons recorded this year.
The government aims to reduce the projected amount by 10 percent, or 2.87 million tons, reports Yonhap news agency. The report said the reduction can be achieved by using SAF, shorter standby time during takeoff and landing, and improved efficiency in airport operations.
In line with the efforts, international aircraft taking off from South Korea will be required to use SAF for at least 1 percent of their fuel, and the share will be raised to between 3 percent and 5 percent after 2030.
South Korea will come up with measures to ease the financial burden on air carriers, considering that SAF prices are around three times higher than those of conventional jet fuel, including partially assisting with related costs.
Meanwhile, Korean Air build a next-generation aircraft maintenance hangar at Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main gateway, under a 176 billion-won (US$119.2 million) joint investment deal with the airport operator, the airline said.
The new hangar will be located inside the airport’s High Tech Aviation Complex and will support airframe inspections, component checks, heavy maintenance and aircraft modification. The 69,299-square-meter site will accommodate two wide-body aircraft and one narrow-body aircraft at once. Construction is set to begin in 2027, with operations planned from late 2029.
Korean Air said the facility will strengthen its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capabilities ahead of the launch of the integrated carrier following the acquisition of rival carrier Asiana Airlines Inc.
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