Hyundai Turns to ExOne VX1000 HSS for Automotive Prototyping

Hyundai has installed two ExOne VX1000 High Speed Sintering (HSS) polymer 3D printing systems at its Namyang R&D Center in South Korea. The facility handles pre-production test parts, small-batch manufacturing, and rapid prototyping, plus urgent sourcing of long-lead components that would otherwise require dedicated tooling.

Printing Full Door Panels in One Build

The VX1000 HSS is one of the largest polymer 3D printers currently on the market, with a build volume of 1,000 x 550 x 190 mm. That volume is the deciding factor for Hyundai: the printer can produce full-scale automotive parts, including complete door panels, in a single build with no assembly.

In ExOne's HSS process, an infrared-absorbing ink is applied selectively to PA12 powder, then an infrared sintering emitter fuses the material layer by layer. Consistent temperature management across the full build volume is what makes the process reliable for production work, and the VX1000's design prioritises that stability.

Reducing Assembly and Tolerance Issues

Hyundai has worked with additive manufacturing technology since 1996, but this investment marks a significant step up in scale. By printing large functional parts directly, the company reduces both assembly effort and tolerance stack-up errors that accumulate when multiple components are bolted or bonded together.

Eric Bader, CEO of ExOne Global Holdings, said: "Hyundai is using High Speed Sintering exactly as we designed it, for full-scale functional parts. Keeping large polymer parts accurate and repeatable, print after print, is one of the hardest challenges in polymer 3D printing. We solved it, and that turns additive manufacturing into a tool automotive teams can rely on for real development work."

Powder Reuse Without Quality Loss

The VX1000 HSS system at Hyundai runs from a single unpacking station and central powder supply that can be arranged flexibly in different factory environments. An intelligent powder management system balances varied build jobs and reportedly lets the team run up to 80 percent recycled powder without compromising part quality. That is a meaningful cost saving at production scale.

The machine also makes process data available in real time, so manufacturing systems can monitor builds continuously. A dedicated video livestream gives operators live visibility into the printing process, which is unusual at this price point.

Hyundai's adoption of the VX1000 HSS signals that large-format polymer sintering is moving beyond specialist AM providers and into mainstream automotive R&D workflows. For a company with Hyundai's scale, the ability to iterate on full-size parts without tooling lead times changes the pace of vehicle development.