Hyundai has announced it is to place electric vehicles (EVs) at the centre of its product line-up going forward, which alongside sister brand Kia, will total eight battery-powered vehicles and two hydrogen cars by 2020.

The Hyundai brand will also double its Europe SUV offering to four models by 2019, plus further bolstering of its crossover range, as it looks to ride the wave of these growing segments to meet its target of overtaking Nissan and Toyota to become the best-selling Asian brand in Europe by 2021.

The electric assault will be led by a premium long-range EV aimed at targeting upmarket leaders including Tesla and models launching from other rivals. This electric sedan will be launched under its high—end Genesis brand in 2021 with a range of 500km (310 miles) per charge – matching models launching from Volkswagen Group around this time.

Hyundai Executive Vice President Lee Kwang-guk said on Thursday: ‘We’re strengthening our eco-friendly car strategy, centring on electric vehicles,’ underscoring the realistic, mainstream promising nature of the technology.

Hyundai and Kia, together fifth in global sales volumes, said they would add three plug-in electric vehicles to their plans, surging their total line-up to 31 models by 2020 – including eight-battery-powered and two hydrogen models. This is a dramatic shift in plans from only three years ago, when in 2014 they had planned 22 models, with only two being battery powered.

It is also planning its first dedicated EV platform, allowing the company to build multiple EV models with longer driving ranges. While it launched its first all-electric volume car the IONIQ last year, its driving range was uncompetitive with those from Tesla and General Motors (Ampera-e).

Read more: Autovista Group