Oil Prices Ease as Markets Weigh U.S.-Iran Peace Deal and Strait of Hormuz Reopening 
Gold Prices Slide as Hawkish Fed and Strong Dollar Weigh on Bullion 
Ukrainian Drone Makers Target Japan and Asia Defense Market 
SK Hynix Shares Hit Record High After Shipping Next-Generation HBM4E AI Memory Samples 
Obayashi to Acquire Multiplex in $526M Expansion Deal 
ASX Proposes New Share Dilution Limits for Public Takeovers 
Microsoft Taps AWS to Support GitHub Amid AI Coding Boom 
HSBC Australia Faces A$35M Penalty Over Scam Protection Failures 
US Stock Futures Jump on Reports of Preliminary US-Iran Peace Deal Despite Fed’s Hawkish Outlook 
Gold Prices Rebound on U.S.-Iran Peace Deal Optimism Despite Fed Rate Hike Signals 
Canada, British Columbia Launch $5 Billion Infrastructure Partnership to Boost Housing, Transit, and Healthcare 
Japan Signals Readiness to Intervene as USD/JPY Nears 161 Amid Yen Weakness 
Meta Seeks Legal Shield From Child-Harm Lawsuits Amid KOSA Talks 
Asian Stocks Advance as Nikkei Nears Record High Ahead of Fed Decision 
Qantas Nears Launch of World’s Longest Non-Stop Flights to London and New York 
Dollar Hits One-Month High as Hawkish Fed Outlook Boosts Greenback 
Oil Prices Drop as U.S.-Iran Peace Deal Eases Supply Concerns 
Hyundai Motor launched its all-electric Ioniq 6 model in the Norwegian market and revealed it made the decision to only sell electric vehicles in the country this year. The South Korean automaker said on Sunday, Jan. 1, that as the global markets for vehicles are changing rapidly and heading towards EVs, it will also go in this direction and stick to selling just electric vehicles in Norway.
As per The Korea Times, this move is also a strategy for Hyundai Motor as it tests the waters and prepares for exclusive selling of EVs amid the gradual transformation to the production of EVs and moving away from making gas-powered cars.
Moreover, the European unit of Hyundai Motor further shared its goal of setting a new milestone in Norway this year. It has already ended the sales of its plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) in the country at the end of 2022. Now it has started to focus on selling EVs only, which has been described as the brand’s first attempt in the global market.
It was noted that the carmaker has already announced its plans to stop marketing internal combustion engine cars in Europe by the year 2035. Its target now is to make and sell EVs around the world by 2040. The firms’ decision to end the sale of gas-powered cars in Norway was said to have pushed forward its original plan by 12 years.
This strategy is possible as Norway is a country considered as one of the earliest adopters in the EV market. In fact, the territory offers different incentives in line with achieving the goal of converting car sales to electric cars in three years.
“We have great faith in our model portfolio, and now that we have launched the all-new IONIQ 6, the time has come to sell only all-electric cars in the Norwegian market,” Hyundai Motor Norway’s managing director, Thomas Rosvold, said in a press release. “IONIQ 5 and KONA Electric have long since taken positions as some of the most popular cars in the market, and we are confident that our pure electric cars will bring us continued success into the future.”
He added, “Alongside a number of other innovative models coming in the next few years, we are, in other words, primed for an all-electric future.”
