(from left) Pyeongtaek Mayor Chung Jang-seon, Gyeonggi-do Gov. Lee Jae-myung, and President Park Jung-kook of Hyundai Mobis attend a ceremony to strike an MOU on the establishment of Hyundai Mobis’ EV parts module production center at the provincial government building in Suwon on Aug. 26.

Hyundai Mobis plans to build an EV parts module production center in Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi-do.

The company’s first such plant in the Seoul metropolitan area will supply automotive parts, to be supplied for the production of 150,000 EV units.

The construction of the upcoming EV module production center will allow the automotive parts unit of Hyundai Motor Group to complement a cluster of eco-friendly car part makers in Chungju, Ulsan and Pyeongtaek.

Gyeonggi-do Gov. Lee Jae-myung, President Park Jung-kook of Hyundai Mobis, and Pyeongtaek Mayor Chung Jang-sun participated in a ceremony to formalize an MOU on the establishment of an EV parts module production center, at the provincial government building in Suwon on Aug. 26.

The EV parts module production center, to be built by Hyundai Mobis, will be located at the Pyeongtaek Poseung District (BIX), part of the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone (YSFEZ).

Its site will cover 16,726 sq. meters, and it will cost 35.5 billion won. A ground-breaking ceremony will take place in September.

Hyundai Mobis said the new plant will start to produce integrated modules of core EV parts such as motors, inverters and reducers as well as chassis modules next second half.

In 2013, Hyundai Mobis built a plant specializing in core electrification parts before the automotive parts maker set up a second Chungju plant in 2018 and a core EV parts plant in Ulsasn last year.

A Hyundai Mobis official said the upcoming Pyeongtaek plant will form a triangle of EV parts cluster with plants in Chungju and Ulsan to produce synergetic effects in terms of product development and logistics efficiency.

In particular, the new plant will find it easy to receive parts supplies from Kia Motors’ plant in Hwaseong, a 13 km-long distance from there.

Hyundai Mobis’s three eco-friendly car part plants in Pyeongtaek, Chungju and Ulsan aim to secure an upper hand in not only in the global EV market, but also fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) segments.

Hyundai Mobis plans to ramp up R&D investments. The automotive parts maker will focus on the development of chassis modules for EVs and self-driving cars and “smart cabin platforms.”

Despite the sagging business performance caused by the pandemic crisis, Hyundai Mobis executed the first six months of R&D outlays the automotive parts maker planned to spend during the whole of the year.

Early this year, Hyundai Mobis announced a plan to pour 300 billion won into a research institute in Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do, as an R&D center.

A bird’s eye-view of the the Pyeongtaek Poseung District (BIX), part of the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone (YSFEZ), in which Hyundai Mobis’ EV parts module production center will be located. (Photos: Hyundai Mobis)