# Hyundai Motor

> Hyundai's Car-to-Car project makes the circularity question tangible: plastic, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors from end-of-life vehicles are the five selected material families. Its 2025 report gives design-stage recyclability figures, but a fleet-level metric is not a qualification record. The next decision is one recovered material and one new-vehicle part, with the sorting, chemistry, part performance and regulatory evidence held together.

- Industry: Automotive & Mobility
- Collection: Active
- Materials: Aluminum, Batteries, Glass, Plastics, Steel, Textile fibers
- Processes: Recycling, Sorting, Energy recovery
- Evidence through: 2026-09-18
- Canonical URL: https://www.materialtransition.com/library/hyundai-motor

## Material inputs to resolve

Vehicles, batteries and a Car-to-Car circularity system for global mobility

Hyundai's Car-to-Car project makes the circularity question tangible: plastic, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors from end-of-life vehicles are the five selected material families. Its 2026 Sustainability Report (FY2025) presents several measures with different bases; a fleet-level metric is not a qualification record. The next decision is one recovered material and one new-vehicle part, with the sorting, chemistry, part performance and regulatory evidence held together.

Hyundai Motor's 2025 Sustainability Report describes design for recycling, a Car-to-Car project covering plastic, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors, and partnerships for recycled and bio-based vehicle parts. The 2026 report separately states a vehicle-development-system threshold of at least 85% recyclability and at least 95% recoverability, and a SASB average-vehicles-sold measure of 85% recyclability or 95% including waste-energy recovery. It does not explain the relationship between these differently framed disclosures. Public reporting does not establish one model-level chain joining source vehicle, recycled input, part qualification, plant allocation and end-of-life outcome.

**≥85% / ≥95%** Vehicle-development-system thresholds: recyclability / recoverability, respectively (2026 report, p. 46)

**85% / 95%** SASB average-vehicles-sold recyclability: 95% includes waste-energy recovery (2026 report, p. 153)

**206,369 t** Resources recovered from end-of-life vehicles in Korea during 2025 (2026 report, p. 47)

**5 materials** Plastic, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors in Car-to-Car project

**6 parts** Recycled and biomaterial-based parts developed with SK Chemical in 2024

- Steel, aluminum, plastics, batteries, motors, glass, rubber, textiles and electronics
- End-of-life vehicles, manufacturing scrap, recycled feedstock and supplier process records
- Design-for-recycling requirements, part tests and regulatory material obligations

### Outputs and residuals to resolve

- Passenger vehicles, electric vehicles, batteries, motors and service parts
- Production waste, end-of-life vehicles and recovered material streams
- Model-level material allocation, quality and recovery evidence remain open

**First decision:** Choose one Hyundai vehicle material, part or battery stream. Join source material, recycling route, quality test, vehicle program, plant allocation and recovery destination.

## Design signal

#### Measurement boundary

The 2026 report distinguishes vehicle-development-system thresholds (at least 85% recyclability and at least 95% recoverability) from its SASB average-vehicles-sold measure (85% recyclability, or 95% including waste-energy recovery). It does not explain how the two measures relate.

#### Car-to-Car signal

Hyundai identifies plastic, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors as the five material families selected for its Car-to-Car project.

#### Material signal

Hyundai reports six recycled and biomaterial-based parts developed with SK Chemical in December 2024.

#### Evidence boundary

A design-stage rate does not establish one vehicle-level loop with verified material yield and allocation.

### Decision boundary

Hyundai's Car-to-Car project identifies plastic, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors as five material families. Its 2026 report presents distinct vehicle-development and SASB recyclability measures, which should not be conflated; neither is a model-specific qualification record. The next decision is one recovered material and one new-vehicle part, with the sorting, chemistry, part performance and regulatory evidence held together. The public record supports one bounded next move: Choose one Hyundai vehicle material, part or battery stream. Join source material, recycling route, quality test, vehicle program, plant allocation and recovery destination. It does not establish a buyer, commercial approval or supply agreement.

## Material flow map

| Material or stream | Qualification gate | Process or destination | Evidence still needed |
|-|-|-|-|
| Recycled plastics | Polymer identity, contamination, durability and compliance | Interior, exterior or structural part | Source, formulation, test and model |
| Steel and aluminum | Alloy, scrap origin, melt route and performance | Body, chassis or battery component | Grade, supplier, plant and allocation |
| Batteries and motors | State of health, safety, disassembly and recovery | Second life or material recovery | Units, route, yield and destination |

This is a public screening map. It separates company-disclosed flows from open qualification work. It does not convert a destination into a buyer or an announced ambition into operating capacity.

## Three defensible entry lanes

#### Make Car-to-Car a material ledger

The project becomes scalable when source vehicle, processor, recovered grade and new part are joined.

**Next evidence:** Select material, vehicle, dismantling route, processor, part and model.

#### Move design-stage recyclability into production

A design percentage is useful only when the plant, supplier and end-of-life route can execute it.

**Next evidence:** Join design record, BOM, supplier, plant process, disassembly and recovery.

#### Prepare the compliance evidence layer

Vehicle-material regulation will require proof across suppliers and models, not a general pledge.

**Next evidence:** Select material obligation, part, supplier, model, test and disclosure record.

## Evidence register

- **2025 Sustainability Report** Hyundai Motor, official sustainability report PDF https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/company/sustainability/sustainability-report [1]
- **2025 Sustainability Report release** Hyundai Motor, official newsroom https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/newsroom/detail/0000000979 [2]
- **Sustainability** Hyundai Motor, official sustainability hub https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/sustainability [3]
- **2025 Sustainability Report** Hyundai Motor, official report with Car-to-Car material families and design-for-recycling metrics https://org3.hyundai.com/content/dam/hyundai/ww/en/images/company/sustainability/about-sustainability/2025/hmc-2025-sustainability-report-en-v12.pdf [4]

Source hierarchy: filings and company disclosures first. The brief states what those sources support and leaves the unresolved plant, grade, permit, buyer and mass-balance questions explicit.

## Material Transition editorial interpretation

Hyundai's 2025 sustainability report makes the material pathway unusually concrete: it reports design-stage recyclability of 85% without heat-energy recovery and 95% with it, while its Car-to-Car project targets plastics, steel, aluminum, batteries and motors. The next move is one vehicle material where recycled input, part performance and end-of-life recovery can be connected without losing the regulatory thread. The next useful working session starts with: Choose one Hyundai vehicle material, part or battery stream. Join source material, recycling route, quality test, vehicle program, plant allocation and recovery destination.

## Sources

- [1] 2025 Sustainability Report - https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/company/sustainability/sustainability-report
- [2] 2025 Sustainability Report release - https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/newsroom/detail/0000000979
- [3] Sustainability - https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/sustainability
- [4] 2025 Sustainability Report - https://org3.hyundai.com/content/dam/hyundai/ww/en/images/company/sustainability/about-sustainability/2025/hmc-2025-sustainability-report-en-v12.pdf
- [5] Hyundai Motor 2026 Sustainability Report (FY2025) - https://www.hyundai.com/content/dam/hyundai/ww/en/images/company/sustainability/about-sustainability/2026/hmc-2026-sustainability-report-en.pdf - Evidence is a dated, excerpted passage-locator capture from the official report, not raw PDF bytes. Preserve page and metric basis; do not reconcile differently framed rates or generalize the Korea recovery figure globally.

From the Material Transition company brief library: https://www.materialtransition.com/library/hyundai-motor