Hyundai Mobis, the top South Korean auto parts manufacturer, aims to lay the groundwork this year to be one of the world’s top-tier companies in the industry by 2010, according to company officials Thursday.
While exerting efforts to narrow the technology gap between global leaders through development of its own technology, Hyundai Mobis is trying to maximize sales by diversifying its suppliers aggressively.
``In 2008, we will further accelerate the global management the company has pursued continuously since 2003, stepping up efforts to target emerging markets such as China and India,’’ a company spokesman said.
Global Management
In addition to the eight domestic factories, Hyundai Mobis currently operates 10 in four other countries ― China, India, Slovakia and the United States.
Two more factories are also under construction in the Czech Republic and America.
Hyundai Mobis is set to complete its second factory in Beijing early this year to provide key modules such as driver’s seats, chassis and front-end modules to Beijing Hyundai Motor.
When the second Beijing factory comes online, the South Korean company will have production facilities for various auto parts for over 1 million vehicles a year along with its factory in Jiangsu Province, which has an annual capacity of 440,000 cars.
``Our factories there will help Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors compete with their rival automakers in the Chinese market, where competition is getting more and more fierce, based on our quality auto parts,’’ the spokesman said.
Hyundai Mobis, an affiliate of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, also plans to step up efforts to capture the Indian market, which is emerging as one of the world’s biggest automobile markets alongside China.
The company, which already has a production capacity of auto parts for 600,000 cars a year in India, is also trying to expand logistics hubs in the country so that auto parts could reach the hands of local customers more easily.
``Beside our logistics hubs in India, we are going to raise the number of the logistics hubs around the world to 28 in the coming years for a perfect global supply system,’’ a company official said.
Hyundai Mobis is also scheduled to complete construction of its factories in the Czech Republic and the United States, in 2009 to supply various auto parts to Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors there.
In the meantime, the company is making efforts to fortify the production of key auto parts such as airbags, steering columns, lamps, ABS (Antilock Brake Systems) and CBS (Conventional Brake Systems).
``We will redouble our efforts at home and abroad to be one of the world’s top 10 companies in the industry through continuous investment and quality improvement,’’ said Lee Jun-hyeong, an executive director in charge of exports.
