Hyundai may not only build a slew of body-on-frame trucks and SUVs in the near future, but it will likely build them in America and export them overseas. According to a new report, this plan would be a "significant" growth driver in its global expansion plan through 2030, CEO Jose Muñoz said, signalling confidence that American-made pickups and SUVs can compete in markets beyond North America.
Speaking in Seoul, Muñoz outlined a strategy that moves Hyundai deeper into body-on-frame territory, a segment the automaker has largely ceded to rivals as it built its reputation on unibody crossovers and passenger cars. Notably, the plan extends past the Boulder and Crater concepts already shown. As a result, it points toward a broader family of trucks and rugged SUVs rather than a pair of standalone entries.
The body-on-frame push is one piece of a wider target: a 35 percent increase in global sales through 2030. Muñoz framed U.S. manufacturing as central to reaching that figure, with domestically produced trucks positioned as export candidates capable of feeding demand outside the American market. That marks a shift. Therefore, Hyundai now casts its local plants as a source of global supply rather than production purely for regional consumption.
The truck program sits within what Hyundai has described as its biggest product blitz to date. Alongside the body-on-frame vehicles, the automaker is preparing a Santa Fe EREV, a GV80 hybrid, and an expansion into commercial vehicles, according to Hyundai's product plans. The breadth is telling. Consequently, it underscores the scale of the sales growth Muñoz is chasing and the range of segments Hyundai intends to contest simultaneously.
Hyundai's timing coincides with a broader move among automakers to expand U.S. manufacturing. Japanese rivals including Toyota and Honda are weighing added American capacity driven by ambition and capacity constraints, not solely by tariff pressure. Similarly, Jaguar Land Rover is pursuing U.S. production with Stellantis to avoid tariffs and currency-exchange penalties, CFO Richard Molyneux said, noting the automaker currently imports all of its North American models. Volkswagen is moving too. Likewise, it is overhauling its U.S. strategy with a planned pickup, with Ford seen as a possible partner given the two companies' existing tie-up.
That competitive backdrop sharpens the stakes for Hyundai's entry into body-on-frame trucks, a segment dominated by established nameplates and defined by high volumes and thin margins. However, Muñoz's export ambition suggests Hyundai believes it can build trucks in the U.S. at a cost and quality level that travels, rather than confining them to the home market where domestic incumbents are strongest.
Hyundai did not detail which specific models would be exported, the markets targeted, or the timeline for shipments to begin. Meanwhile, there was another development. The automaker reached a wage deal with its union to end a strike, agreeing to discuss AI, robotics, and job-security concerns as it scales up production plans.
The combination of new segments, a heavier reliance on U.S. plants, and an export-driven growth model represents a departure for a company whose global expansion has historically leaned on Korean and other overseas production. Ultimately, execution will decide it. Whether U.S.-built trucks can anchor a 35 percent sales increase depends on how Hyundai delivers the full product blitz Muñoz has laid out through the end of the decade.