Hyundai Mobis: "Electric Vehicle Parts, Smaller and Lighter... European Market Crisis Is an Opportunity"

2024 Paris Motor Show On-site Interview

"To increase global orders, technology is the most important factor. We believe that the recent stagnant European market situation is not a crisis but an opportunity for Hyundai Mobis, which possesses excellent electrification component technology."

Yang Seung-yeol, Executive Director of Hyundai Mobis Global Sales Division 1, said this on the 16th (local time) at the '2024 Paris Motor Show' held at Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, during a meeting with reporters from the Korea Automobile Journalists Association.

Hyundai Mobis participated in the Paris Motor Show for the first time this year. They set up a private booth accessible only to pre-invited customers and conducted sales activities targeting European automakers. Through this event, numerous representatives from automakers including Stellantis and Renault visited the Hyundai Mobis booth. Executive Director Yang said, "(The visiting customers) are all interested in electrification-related technologies," adding, "Especially, there is great interest in the Electronic Drive Unit (EDU), which is essential for electric vehicles."

Hyundai Mobis's Lee Hyung-geun, Head of EU Global Sales (left in the photo), and Yang Seung-yeol, Executive Director of Hyundai Mobis Global Sales Division 1, are being interviewed at the 2024 Paris Motor Show on the 16th (local time).
[Photo by Hyundai Mobis]

Hyundai Mobis mentioned that as the status of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia in the European electric vehicle market has changed, the number of customers seeking Hyundai Mobis has increased. Lee Hyung-geun, Head of Hyundai Mobis EU Global Sales Office, said, "Many automakers have come to know that Hyundai Mobis manufactures key components while referring to Hyundai and Kia's electric vehicles," adding, "Also, during the logistics crisis caused by COVID-19 and semiconductor shortages, Hyundai Mobis maintained stable supply without delivery delays or price increases, which earned high evaluations from customers."

For global orders including Europe, technology must be supported above all else. Yang Seung-hoon, Head of Hyundai Mobis Europe Research Center, summarized the direction of product development as 'integrated systems and localization strategy.' By integrating components to make them smaller and lighter, automakers gain design freedom and increased space utilization.

Yang said, "Until now, signals were exchanged by connecting internal wires in braking systems or battery packs, but we are now conducting advanced development to enable wireless signals," adding, "To secure the most important driving range in electric vehicles, components must consume less energy and be lightweight."

Additionally, Hyundai Mobis emphasized that its strength lies in its capability to supply parts for various vehicle types, including internal combustion engines, electric vehicles, and hybrids. Executive Director Yang said, "Hyundai Mobis has the capability to respond to a diverse portfolio and is actually delivering parts," adding, "If other manufacturers request, we can certainly respond in the global original equipment (OE) market for new vehicles."

On this day, Hyundai Mobis also announced plans to invest 350 billion KRW to build an electric vehicle propulsion system (PE) factory in Slovakia to target the European market. This factory will become Hyundai Mobis's third electrification hub in Europe, following the Czech Republic and Spain. Since the second half of 2022, Hyundai Mobis has been supplying chassis modules for Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle exclusive models, and last year secured a large-scale order for Volkswagen's battery system (BSA).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.