Hyundai Motor Group's plan to invest more than $1 billion in a battery factory and car plant in New South Wales reportedly collapsed in 2024 after a meeting with the state government fell through, according to text messages aired by Channel 7 and detailed by CarExpert.
The messages were sent in January 2024 by Mike Newman, then Investment NSW's senior trade and investment commissioner for North Asia, as he pressed for NSW Premier Chris Minns to sit down with Hyundai executives.
What the messages said
In a text to the Premier's chief of staff dated January 17, 2024, Newman wrote that Hyundai executives had come back to him and appeared keen to invest north of $1 billion in NSW, including building a car plant, and that seniority on the government side was essential. He noted the group had invested $7 billion in a US battery plant late the previous year and called the Australian opportunity a massive one.
Channel 7's report said the NSW meeting fell through and was subsequently bungled, with the proposal moving to Victoria and Hyundai ultimately not investing. Hyundai Australia has made no public comment on the proposed meeting and declined to comment when contacted by CarExpert, while the Prime Minister's office and Newman's office were also approached.
Newman held the commissioner role from 2021 to 2024, based in Japan and covering South Korea, and now leads One Nation in NSW. The report said Euisun Chung, head of Hyundai Motor Group, was in Australia in early 2024 and is believed to have sought an initial meeting with either Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or the premier of the most populous state.
Australia was viewed as a strong candidate for battery manufacturing because of its critical mineral resources. The group's reach extends well beyond cars, taking in Hyundai, Kia and Genesis plus robotics and other technology businesses.
A missed opening, not a closed door
The episode is a reminder of how much of the investment case for Australia rests on access rather than resources. Hyundai's interest was reportedly there, and so were the minerals, but the deal needed a meeting at the right level and did not get one in time.
For car buyers, the practical effect is that the promised factory has not translated into local battery production or local vehicle assembly. Hyundai's Australian lineup continues to arrive as imported product, and nothing in the reported plan would have changed that overnight.
The sources do not say whether Hyundai will build a battery plant in Australia in future. No new proposal has been announced, and the company has not publicly commented on the 2024 talks.
There is a political backdrop too. Albanese, as opposition leader, visited Brisbane EV equipment maker Tritium in April 2022 ahead of the federal election he went on to win, telling media that delay, prevarication and inaction from the government had meant missed opportunities. The Hyundai episode gives that criticism a concrete example, though the report rests on one former official's messages rather than a public Hyundai commitment.
