Hyundai must be feeling good about the U.S. market right now: The company just posted “record-breaking” November sales, led by its electric and hybrid vehicles.
It wouldn't be too far-fetched for the South Korean automaker to think that it must be doing something right in answering the market's demands. And at least one recurring trait at Hyundai is a willingness to continue offering drivers a flexible range of options.
The most recent example is Hyundai's commitment to continue offering CarPlay and Android Auto, the in-car phone mirroring apps.
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“For now, we're still keeping Android Auto and Carplay,” said Olabisi Boyle, Hyundai's senior vice president of product planning, in a new interview with InsideEVs.
Of course, Hyundai has the advantage of having experienced the negative reactions that followed General Motors' decision in 2023 to stop offering the apps for its vehicles. According to a McKinsey study, the unavailability of these apps is enough of a factor to deter almost half of new car buyers.
But it's also part of Hyundai's market approach to keep all options available.
“It’s a bit like charging electric vehicles,” Boyle says. “Give people every opportunity as we move.”
Hyundai vehicles already provided access to charging stations via traditional CCS (Combined Charging System) connectors. However, the automaker decided to also provide Tesla's NACS charging ports for its new Ioniq 5, giving drivers access to over 28,000 SuperChargers in North America.
Of course, companies like Tesla and Rivian never asked themselves whether they should keep or abandon CarPlay and Android Auto: They didn't offer the apps at all, preferring instead to develop their own cutting-edge software and electrical systems.
Boyle believes Hyundai and the entire auto industry could eventually find better alternatives to CarPlay and Android Auto. “This could be the future,” she says.
But in the meantime, Hyundai remains true to its philosophy of covering all bases.
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