Hyundai Motor Group and Toray Group to Jointly Develop Materials and Components for Lunar Rover and Robots

Signing of Strategic Joint Development Agreement
Collaboration in High-Performance Composite Materials Business

Hyundai Motor Group and Toray Group will jointly develop high-performance materials and components for future mobility, including the lunar exploration vehicle Rover and humanoid robots.

Kim Heungsu, Executive Vice President and Head of GSO Division at Hyundai Motor Group (front row left), is taking a commemorative photo with Terada Miki, Head of Composite Materials Business Division at Toray Group (front row right), after signing a strategic joint development agreement on the 24th. Hyundai Motor Company

On the 27th, Hyundai Motor Group announced that it had signed a Strategic Joint Development Agreement (SJDA) with Toray Group on the 24th. The signing ceremony, held at Hyundai Motor Group’s headquarters in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, was attended by Kim Heungsu, Executive Vice President and Head of the Global Strategy Office at Hyundai Motor Group; Hong Seunghyun, Executive Director and Head of the Basic Materials Research Center; Terada Miki, Head of the Composite Materials Business Division at Toray Group; Kim Youngseop, President of Toray Advanced Materials Korea; and other officials from both companies.

In April last year, the two companies signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement for the joint development of high-performance composite materials, such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), to enhance mobility performance and ensure safety. Since then, they have identified projects that can maximize synergy and have developed concrete plans for joint development by combining their respective strengths.

Through this agreement, Hyundai Motor Group plans to strengthen cooperation in developing advanced materials and components for application in high-performance vehicles, special-purpose mobility solutions such as the Rover, and humanoid robots. The two companies also intend to collaborate throughout the entire process from production to commercialization, accelerating innovation in the future mobility industry and creating new market opportunities.

Kim Heungsu, Vice President and Head of the Global Strategy Office at Hyundai Motor Group (fourth from the left), is taking a commemorative photo with Terada Miki, Head of the Composite Materials Business Division at Toray Group (fifth from the left), after signing a strategic joint development agreement on the 24th. Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai Motor Group will lead the design, suitability verification, and performance evaluation of advanced materials and components at the vehicle level, centering on its Basic Materials Research Center, which is responsible for the development and validation of new body materials. Toray Group will serve as the joint development liaison through Toray Industries, while Toray Advanced Materials Korea and others will develop intermediate materials and molded products based on carbon fiber technology.

Kim Heungsu, Executive Vice President, stated, "This marks an important milestone as the two companies collaborate to achieve results following our strategic partnership. By clarifying our objectives and combining our capabilities, we will work closely together from research and development of innovative composite materials to production and commercialization, thereby strengthening our ability to respond to the market." Terada Miki, Head of the Composite Materials Business Division, commented, "We will create innovative composite material solutions required for next-generation mobility together with Hyundai Motor Group and enhance our competitiveness in the global market."

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