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Speaker 1: Two other companies that were watching very closely are Forward

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Speaker 1: and General Motors. As the companies negotiate with the United

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Speaker 1: Auto Workers, the two sides are racing to avoid a

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Speaker 1: strike as the Thursday midnight deadline approaches.

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Speaker 2: A possible strike.

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Speaker 1: Could change the auto and economic landscape in the US.

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Speaker 1: Jose Munos is Hyundai and Genesis North America President and CEO,

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Speaker 1: as well as global COO for Hyundai. He joins US Now, Jose,

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Speaker 1: great to have you on the program. I wonder what

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Speaker 1: you think of these negotiations. Of course, you have non

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Speaker 1: union work, and on the one hand, that's great because

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Speaker 1: lower costs for you. On the other hand, if they

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Speaker 1: get a bigger contract in Detroit, you could see an

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Speaker 1: already tight labor market get tighter.

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Speaker 2: How do you see it? Well, thank you for having me, Matt.

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Speaker 3: Well, first and foremost, we just want the best for

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Speaker 3: the industry rights. We don't have unions today in the

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Speaker 3: US because this is what our work has decided to do, basically,

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Speaker 3: because our strategy has always been and it will continue

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Speaker 3: to be, to try to offer our workers the best

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Speaker 3: possible conditions. So, in fact, I was two weeks ago

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Speaker 3: in Savannah, Georgia, whereas you know, we are making a

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Speaker 3: multi billion investment for the company, about twelve billion in total.

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Speaker 3: And then we found out that according to the county,

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Speaker 3: our wages are about top twenty five percent in the area,

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Speaker 3: so which means that good wages, good health conditions, good

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Speaker 3: paid holidays, etcetera. Is the best warrantee to succeed. Also,

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Speaker 3: I would say that we have unions in Korea and

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Speaker 3: we've always tried to provide our workers with the best conditions.

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Speaker 3: We found good agreements so far in the last few years.

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Speaker 3: Thankfully we had no strikes, so we wish the best

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Speaker 3: to everybody because any disruption would have intensially impact in

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Speaker 3: the supply chain. Although the last two years we've learned

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Speaker 3: a lot how to be less reliant on one or

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Speaker 3: another supplier. And also we are very much vertically integrated company,

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Speaker 3: so I help thinks will end up in good place

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Speaker 3: for everybody and will continue to produce cars and sell.

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Speaker 1: Cars other you got you know, products that are hot

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Speaker 1: right now. A lot of people normally who would be

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Speaker 1: looking for a luxury vehicle are going instead to Genesis,

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Speaker 1: or maybe Genesis is just stepping up and making luxury products.

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Speaker 2: In terms of Hyundai.

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Speaker 1: You've got the Elantra and making a splash the Santa

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Speaker 1: Fe plug in hybrid, as well as my personal favorite,

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Speaker 1: the Ionic five. But are you also able to undercut

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Speaker 1: your competition in terms of pricing because right now car

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Speaker 1: makers in America, our car buyers in America, I should say,

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Speaker 1: are facing very high prices.

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Speaker 2: Well, you're right, Matt.

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Speaker 3: We are very proud with the good achievements of our

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Speaker 3: luxury brand, Genesis. I was in fact looking at some

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Speaker 3: data before and I found out that since we started

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Speaker 3: in a full year in two thousand and six, we

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Speaker 3: have increased our volume ex until last year to more

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Speaker 3: than fifty six thousand, and hopefully this year will go

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Speaker 3: well above sixty thousand. So good design, good technology. I

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Speaker 3: wouldn't say our cars are the cheapest at all. We

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Speaker 3: just want to offer the customers the best at a

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Speaker 3: competitive price.

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Speaker 2: But it doesn't mean the cheapest.

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Speaker 3: I think the electrification is something that is helping us

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Speaker 3: and is helping our customers and they realizing that we

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Speaker 3: have a very compelling offering in the market. As you

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Speaker 3: mentioned handay, with the Ionic five and Ionic six, which

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Speaker 3: have been two years in a row. The workout of

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Speaker 3: the year I think the very good offers.

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Speaker 2: And then we're.

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Speaker 3: Trying to do our best to compete in the market

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Speaker 3: even if our vehicles don't qualify for IRRA other than

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Speaker 3: on the leads segment.

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Speaker 2: And you know, as you know, we became last year.

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Speaker 3: The third global OHM in sales and with more than

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Speaker 3: six point eight million, and then these first six months

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Speaker 3: we continue to be the third one. This is driven

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Speaker 3: by the US, where we are only behind GM Antiota.

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Speaker 2: As you know, so so far, so good.

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Speaker 3: We'll continue to do our best with everything that we

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Speaker 3: got a product quality, good design, good features. I think

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Speaker 3: it's the best guarantee to success.

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Speaker 4: You know, you mentioned the possible supply chain disruptions from

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Speaker 4: a potential strike in Detroit at a time when electrification,

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Speaker 4: as you noted, is such a priority for so many

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Speaker 4: of the auto market makers. Have you put hose any

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Speaker 4: estimates on what a strike could cost the industry internally?

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Speaker 4: Have you guys put together any numbers on what that

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Speaker 4: potential cost could.

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Speaker 2: Be, Well, we don't.

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Speaker 3: We I think mastered the couple of last years during

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Speaker 3: the pandemic where our company I think did a better

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Speaker 3: job than others in terms of finding alternative sources and

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Speaker 3: maximizing the flexibility of our systems to continue to supply

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Speaker 3: vehicles to the consumers right and nowadays assummation. I think

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Speaker 3: we are in a better position that we were just

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Speaker 3: two to three years ago in terms of having an

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Speaker 3: alternative supply, especially in the North American market, namely in

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Speaker 3: the USA.

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Speaker 2: Right. So also we are very vertically integrated.

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Speaker 3: Our companies like Mobbies or globies that are supplying to

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Speaker 3: both Handai, Kia Genesis, that are very very strong, and

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Speaker 3: after you know, all these twelve billion investment in mainly

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Speaker 3: Savannah and Barto in Georgia, I think we're going to

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Speaker 3: be even even more localized. But I'm very pleased to

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Speaker 3: say that we're so confident that today we're announcing here

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Speaker 3: in Detroit, Michigan, and opening of our we call it

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Speaker 3: the Still Safety Tests and Investigation Laboratory, where we believe

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Speaker 3: we're going to have the state of the air the

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Speaker 3: very best facilities to do this. Most of our competitors

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Speaker 3: do this through third parties, and according to the president

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Speaker 3: of HS, I think probably we have the best facilities

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Speaker 3: in town.

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Speaker 4: One of the other issues that comes up with Hyundai

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Speaker 4: today is competition from Chinese automakers, what would you say

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Speaker 4: to those who are curious about how your company is

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Speaker 4: positioned versus some of those fast growing players.

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Speaker 2: I think.

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Speaker 3: Mainly in the European markets is where we can see

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Speaker 3: that competition. Also maybe in the Middle East, not to

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Speaker 3: mention China, right, but so far we've been able to

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Speaker 3: weather that quite well. So again, the European consumer, the

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Speaker 3: Middle East consumer is appreciating the design, the quality, the

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Speaker 3: safety features, competitive prices without discounting, and more importantly a

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Speaker 3: great service. I think the consumer is appreciating the fact

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Speaker 3: that we put the customer first within our big image

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Speaker 3: on the progress for humanity. So when they compare us

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Speaker 3: to other as you mentioned Chinese companies and others, they

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Speaker 3: realize that if they ever have a need to serve

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Speaker 3: the vehicle, probably they would be much better taking care

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Speaker 3: of by a handaid done by some of those competitors.

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Speaker 3: We don't neglect them. We need to continue to do

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Speaker 3: our job because they have improved a lot. But we

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Speaker 3: like the competition and we'll try to do an even

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Speaker 3: better job.

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Speaker 1: Tesla cutting prices in China but here as well. You

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Speaker 1: know I asked earlier about whether or not you can

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Speaker 1: undercut competitors with price. But you know, do you have

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Speaker 1: any room to cut prices at Hondai in Genesis.

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Speaker 3: Well, we, as mentioned, tried to focus on offering value.

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Speaker 3: We don't want to be the cheapest in the market.

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Speaker 3: We want to be simply competitive. There is always room

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Speaker 3: if you look at the financial results of the company.

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Speaker 3: But definitely our strategy is to optimize the revenue, the

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Speaker 3: margin within the capacity that we have. And this is

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Speaker 3: what we've done the last few years and as in

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Speaker 3: the results are showing that. So we'll try to maintain

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Speaker 3: our position. We are not having plans to cut on

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Speaker 3: a slice or prices.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm seeing headlines here Jose, that Bernard Looney,

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Speaker 1: the chief executive of BP, is going to resign less

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Speaker 1: than four years in the job. This according to the

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Speaker 1: Financial Times. I bring this up with you because I

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Speaker 1: have asked Bernard Looney, why don't they put EV chargers

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Speaker 1: at every VP station? You know, gas stations all over

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Speaker 1: the place, but I can barely find a charger and

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Speaker 1: you're pushing you know, electric vehicles. You add an ad

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Speaker 1: during the kickoff of football with the all new ConA

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Speaker 1: about getting back into the commute. How do you convince

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Speaker 1: buyers to switch to evs when there's the culty and

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Speaker 1: charging especially you know when they get to work in

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Speaker 1: my garage here, they'll charge me twenty dollars a day

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Speaker 1: to plug the car in, So you know that's just

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Speaker 1: the same as paying gas.

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Speaker 3: Well, in fact, the consumers are very smart always right.

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Speaker 3: And then to your point about the CONNA, it is

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Speaker 3: a great design, you know, great autonomy, It is having

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Speaker 3: a great driving dynamics, fantastic safety features. And then we

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Speaker 3: are making really extraordinary efforts to satisfy our.

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Speaker 2: Consumers needs for the time being.

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Speaker 3: As you know, we offer on every handy that we

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Speaker 3: sell two years of complimentary charging within Electrified America and

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Speaker 3: then three years for the Genesis brands. And as we speak,

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Speaker 3: as you know, we signed recently an agreement with the

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Speaker 3: other six or seven OEMs to create AA to guarantee

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Speaker 3: that our consumers will continue to have the best conditions

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Speaker 3: in order to.

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Speaker 2: Charge the vehicle.

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Speaker 3: On top of that, we're thinking on potentially launching our

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Speaker 3: own specialized and high level service charging chain for or

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Speaker 3: Handreid and Genesis consumers and our dealers. All the Ionic

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Speaker 3: dealers have invested in level twos and even level three charges.

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Speaker 2: So I think the consumers is realized.

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Speaker 3: The consumers are realizing that the ranges are getting longer

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Speaker 3: and longer, the grid is getting better and better, still

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Speaker 3: some room for improvement. And you know the fact is,

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Speaker 3: for example, you look at the numbers that we had

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Speaker 3: in Augus. In August, we sold about twenty percent of

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Speaker 3: our sales were electrified vehicles including evs, hybrids, plugging hybrids,

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Speaker 3: high hydrogen, and this represents fifty percent more than a

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Speaker 3: year ago. But ten percent it was battery ev and

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Speaker 3: it was one hundred percent plus versus a year ago.

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Speaker 3: So the consumers see the value and the buying evis ose.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us as a munos there,

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Speaker 1: Hundai and Genesis North American President CEO as well as

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Speaker 1: the Global ce COO. I should say for Hyundai