POSCO Int’l completes Mexico EV motor core plant for N.American market

POSCO International Corp., the energy and trading unit of South Korea’s steel giant POSCO Holdings Inc., concluded construction on an electric vehicle motor core plant in Mexico with a plan for another factory there as the group is seeking a future growth engine in the rising eco-friendly automobile sector.

POSCO International on Tuesday held a ceremony to mark the completion of the facility in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, targeting the second-largest North American EV market.

“It is a significant moment for POSCO International to take its first step toward the North American continent, the global auto industry’s largest battleground,” said its President and CEO Jeong Tak in a statement.

The company broke ground for the plant, which is set to operate with 18 press machines, on a land of 63,925 square meters in July last year to ease potential risks of trade barriers on EVs in North America.

The company plans to start construction of the second factory in the first half of 2024 to increase capacity in Mexico to 2.5 million units by 2030.

Ramos Arizpe is the country’s strategic city for the auto industry where global major carmakers such as General Motors Co. and component manufacturers operate factories. The city is considered one of the best locations to target the North American eco-friendly car market as it is only about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the US border in Texas.

POSCO International plans to supply motor cores to be produced from the new plant to major automakers in North America for their eco-friendly vehicle production.

The company has already secured a $460 million deal last year to supply the parts to an unidentified carmaker in the region by 2030 while agreeing to sell 2.7 million units to Hyundai Motor Group’s new EV plant in the US state of Georgia.

TO RAISE GLOBAL MARKET SHARE TO MORE THAN 10%

POSCO International aims to raise its global motor core market share to more than 10% by establishing manufacturing bases in key countries including South Korea, China, Mexico and India to produce more than 7 million units a year by 2030.

“We aim to keep growing into a global top-tier eco-friendly car parts maker by actively targeting the European and Asian markets after North America,” Jeong said.

The company is preparing for the operation of a plant in China with an annual capacity of 900,000 units after completing construction.

It is scheduled to start building a factory in Poland during the first half of next year with a target of production in the second half of the following year. It plans to make 1.2 million motor cores in the country by 2030.

It aims to manufacture more than 2 million cores in South Korea by then and 300,000 units in India.

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com
 

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.