Kia Motors Corp., Korea’s second largest automaker and affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, will invest 29 trillion won ($25 billion) over the next six years to double down on its migration to eco-friendly cars and take lead in newly emerging purpose-built vehicle market.

According to its mid-term outline dubbed Plan S, the automaker will focus on electric and purpose-built vehicles by investing 29 trillion won by 2025. Through this, it hopes to achieve an operating margin of 6 percent by then.

On Tuesday, Kia Motors shares rose 1.73 percent to end at 41,150 won.

The company plans to launch standalone electric car model next year and secure full line-up for 11 different EV models to win 6.6 percent of the global EV market and 25 percent of its sales generated from eco-friendly cars in 2025.

From 2026, it will ship out 1 million environmentally-friendly cars including 500,000 EVs across the world, excluding China.

Another business focus is purpose-built vehicles for mobility services, a new market segment the car industry has been creating. It involves specially designed vehicles, largely electric, for new market needs like ride-sharing and delivery services. The company said it will develop both electric and self-driving based purpose-built vehicles.

Separately on the same day, the automaker said its Telluride was named 2020 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year by North American Car of the Year jury. It is the third honor for the three-row SUV to win recently. It was awarded 2020 SUV of the Year by world’s renowned publication MotorTrend and made Car and Driver`s 10Best Trucks and SUVs list.

Nearly 60,000 units of Telluride have been sold across North America since its launch in February last year.

By Park Yun-gu and Cho Jeehyun

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