Hyundai and Kia invest $300 million in Ola

Pune: Hyundai, India's second biggest car maker and Kia Motors (part of Hyundai) on Tuesday said they had invested $300 million or about Rs 2,000 crore in India's ride-hailing giant Ola, marking their biggest combined investment.

This is part of a strategic partnership under which the companies will jointly work toward creating mobility solutions for the global markets.

Significantly, this investment shows Hyundai's continued interest in the cab-hailing space. The Korean automotive firm invested $250 million in the Southeast Asian cab-hailing company Grab about four months ago. The agreement will see the three companies extensively collaborate on developing unique fleet and mobility solutions.

It would also entail building India-specific electric vehicles and infrastructure as well as nurturing best in class opportunities and offerings for aspiring driver partners with customised vehicles, on the Ola platform.

"India is the centerpiece of Hyundai Motor Group's strategy to gain leadership in the global mobility market and our partnership with Ola will certainly accelerate to transform into a smart mobility solutions provider," Euisun Chung, Executive Vice-Chairman at Hyundai Motor Group, said.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO of Ola said, the partnership would bring to market a new generation of mobility solutions, as it expands its range of offerings for consumers.

The investment also reflects Ola's efforts to raise money from other investors in an attempt to keep existing investor Japan's SoftBank at bay. The company last received $100 million from Flipkart's Co-Founder Sachin Bansal.

"This partnership will also significantly benefit driver-partners on our platform, as we collaborate with Hyundai to build vehicles and solutions that enable sustainable earnings for millions of them, in the time to come," Aggarwal pointed out.