One year into his role as President and CEO at Hyundai Auto Canada, Steve Flamand shares some key insights with Autosphere.

Hyundai has been making waves over the last few months. The year opened with record high sales for both the Hyundai and Genesis brands in Canada, while the new 2026 Hyundai Palisade was recently named the Automobile Journalist’s Association of Canada Utility of the Year, following on from its North American Truck of the Year award in January. Additionally, Hyundai Hope on Wheels also recently announced its partnership with the C17 council, which aims to strengthen national collaboration in paediatric cancer care across Canada. This includes a new $1 million Research Grant Fund that will support four Canadian‑led paediatric cancer research projects over two years, administered by C17 Research Network. To get more details, we sat down with Hyundai Canada’s President and CEO Steve Flamand, who is celebrating is one year anniversary at the helm.

Autosphere: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Tell us, how have things been over the last 12 months?
Steve Flamand: It has definitely been an eventful year. It’s been a turbulent time for the whole industry with tariffs, changes in policy regarding EVs and incentives, so there have been a significant number of headwinds. That said, we are fortunate that we are surrounded by a robust data network and a strong leadership team. We’ve been able to pivot quite quickly, which has been good. We’ve also been able to effectively leverage our ability across the globe, which has allowed us to shift production around and bring new vehicle configurations and trim levels to market. This proved to be very successful for us at Hyundai, as we are able to adapt to the realities of the marketplace which translated into a record year in 2025. We ended up with an 8.1% share, which was our fifth year in a row of shared growth. We are very proud of our team in being able to accomplish that and we’re looking forward to even greater success in 2026.

AS: Where there any core products that you feel, played a significant part in that sales success during 2025?
SF: One strength Hyundai has, is our depth and breadth to cover the whole market in Canada. The launch of the new 2026 Palisade SUV was game changing for us, and adding a hybrid model has been a big win, given the current growth in that sector of the market. In January, it was also the best selling SUV in its segment, and when we hear that and see the numbers, it indicates that our products are indexing well and resonating with Canadian consumers. Additionally, when we look at EVs, the IONIQ 9, our three-row BEV SUV has also been an important launch for us. Looking at our other core entries, the Kona, has [and continues to be] very well received and has been number one in its segment for a long time. Additionally, we are continuing to reinvest in our product lineup to keep it fresh, to keep it relevant, and to electrify our products where the market demands it. Our goal is to have a vehicle for every customers, in the Canadian market, whether it’s powered by an internal combustion engine, utilizes a hybrid, or plug in hybrid powertrain, or comes as a pure EV. We are also exploring fuel cell technology with the NEXO, though currently it’s targeted exclusively for fleet sales. As previously stated our objective is to cover the entire market in Canada.

AS: Looking at things from a dealer perspective, we’ve seen that Hyundai has developed a strong relationship with its dealers over the last decade, and it seems to be winning formula when combined with desirable and popular product offerings, can you tell us a little about the momentum on the retail side?
SF: We’ve seen that our industry tends to shift a lot, especially this decade. Within that context it’s important for us, as an OEM to be very agile, and in order to do that, you need to have the best possible communication and alignment with your dealers. We talk with them every day, and in fact, as we’re doing this interview, the day before we had our latest dealer council meeting in Toronto and we talked through the issues facing our dealers. We put everything on the table with the mindset of finding solutions and it’s important that we listen to our dealers, since they represent what’s really happening in terms of day-to-day interaction with customers. We’ve been focused adjusting at both the OEM and retail level, and that’s resulted in an agility that’s been tough to match in the market and we’ve seen the benefits of this approach. We are extremely thankful to all of our 225 dealers in working with us. There is a real sense of being teammates in this journey and when we work and play together, the results tend to reflect that and we’ve seen this manifest itself in some of our best ever years in terms of sales and growth.

AS: Shifting gears a bit, and looking at Hyundai Hope on Wheels, would love to hear about some of the latest developments, since it’s really seen momentum over the last few years?
SF: While our core mission is to manufacture vehicles and sell and service them through our retail network, overall, it’s about doing the right thing for society. There is no better cause than helping kids fight cancer, and it’s why we, as an organization and our dealers have rallied behind Hope on Wheels. We’ve raised over $4 million land last year, we added another program to it. We will be continuing to push forward and we will be announcing another initiative that feeds the Hope on Wheels program. The overall objective is to feed all the paediatric cancer research centres around the country. This is something that comes right from the heart and we believe that both at the corporate level and with our dealers, we can make a big difference in children’s lives with the work we do. Our partnership with the C17 council, which we announced at the Canadian International AutoShow represents a major step in helping to do that.

AS: Anything else you’d like to mention related to Hyundai, the brand product, and retailing?
SF: At this point, we are fortunate that we have a strong brand, strong product and a strong and supportive dealer network. When we look at product specifically, customers want connectivity, convenience and safety. Our goal is to continue pushing the envelope and bringing to market products and solutions that customers want. Our Palisade Hybrid is a good example. We’ve just brought it to market and while it happens to offer the highest horsepower output in its segment, it also delivers the best fuel economy. So, you could say in that context our focus is on performance, practicality and responsibility—providing vehicles that consumers want, and so far, that’s been reflected in our growing sales volumes and market share—a strategy that we will continue to push forward with here in Canada.