Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Hyundai Motor chief follows in footsteps of late founder in Saudi Arabia
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, right, shakes hands with employees from Hyundai Engineering & Construction while inspecting a construction site for a tunnel of THE LINE smart city in Saudi Arabia’s northwestern NEOM mega city project, Monday. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
By Lee Min-hyung
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun is following in the footsteps of the automaker’s legendary late founder, Chung Ju-yung, in the Middle East, demonstrating the group’s strong willingness to widen its partnership with Saudi Arabia in key industrial areas encompassing auto manufacturing, eco-friendly energy and power line construction, the company said Tuesday.
The Middle East has served as an important region to Hyundai after the late Hyundai chairman clinched a mega construction order to establish an industrial port in Saudi Arabia’s eastern city of Jubail back in the 1970s. The achievement enabled Hyundai and a group of other Korean construction firms to raise their global profile, contributing greatly to boosting the once-poor Korean economy.
The incumbent Hyundai chief is moving to diversify the areas of partnerships with Saudi Arabia by accompanying President Yoon Suk Yeol during his state visit to the country. Hyundai Motor Group is placing its strategic focus on winning more orders from the Middle East in the area of construction for auto manufacturing facilities and state-of-the-art plants.
Hyundai Group’s late founder, Chung Ju-yung, right, is on a boat to inspect construction of Jubail Industrial Port in eastern Saudi Arabia, in this undated file photo. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
According to Hyundai, Chung visited Monday a construction site for an underground tunnel for THE LINE smart city project in the country’s northwestern mega-city of NEOM. Earlier, Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) clinched a surprise $145 million (194.8 billion won) contract to build transmission lines there.
Chung pledged to provide all-out support for the safe completion of the project.
“Hyundai Motor Group will fully support the project with a sense of strong responsibility,” Chung said. “Hyundai E&C has set a history with credibility and the group will also play a part in elevating the global footing of the construction arm. The top priority for the ongoing project should be quality and safety.”
Chung also underscored the strategic importance of the region for further growth of its cash-cow automobile business.
Combined sales of Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia account for 21 percent in Saudi Arabia in the first half of this year. This is the second-largest after Toyota Motor. The Korean automaker recently clinched a contract with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to build an auto assembly plant in the country’s western King Abdullah Economic City.
The factory is expected to manufacture more than 50,000 vehicles including EVs annually, according to Hyundai.
Both sides plan to finish construction of the plant and attract more demand by providing quality EVs and diversifying lineups of its vehicles there.
Hyundai also shared its plan to strengthen its commitment for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management there. Against the backdrop, the automaker will partner with the country to build a hydrogen mobility ecosystem there.
“Saudi Arabia has been a symbolic region and a longtime partner for Hyundai,” a spokesman at the company said. “Hyundai Motor Group will continue diversifying its business portfolio, and seek fresh opportunities in the market there.”