Hyundai Mobis to expand vehicle module facility in S.Korea

South Korea’s Hyundai Mobis Co. will build its third automotive module plant in Ulsan, South Korea, where its parent Hyundai Motor Group operates its largest production complex, according to industry sources on Tuesday.

The move comes after the auto parts maker spun off its vehicle module business into a fully owned unit, Motras, at the end of last year.

Motras will build a new factory in Ulsan, 300 km southeast of Seoul, for about 100 billion won ($77 million). It aims to complete the facility construction by 2026.

Currently, module-making unit Motras runs some 10 plants across the country.

The products from the new plant will likely be installed in Hyundai’s new vehicles. Regarding the factory expansion in Ulsan, Hyundai Mobis said nothing in detail has yet been determined.

The company has subcontracted auto parts and modules production to small-sized companies, and the assembly line workers have been dispatched to Hyundai Mobis’ plants.

Apart from the module-making unit Motras, last year Hyundai Mobis set up Unitus, another 100%-owned subsidiary, responsible for automotive parts manufacturing.

Meanwhile, Motras will build a new factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, for 154 billion won. Next month, it will break ground on the facility to be built on a 47,891-square-meter parcel of land.

The plant will likely be completed by July 2024 and brought into full operation from February 2025.

A module is a combination of automotive parts. The company churns out three key types of vehicle modules: chassis modules, cockpit modules and front-end modules.

Automotive parts and modules made up 82.1% of Hyundai Mobis’ sales of 14.7 trillion won in the first quarter of this year.

It delivers modules in the just-in-sequence method to carmakers, getting involved in the processes of vehicle development testing and research. 

Write to Sungsu Bae at baebae@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.