By Ryu Jin
Korea Times Correspondent
CHENNAI, India ― Hyundai Mobis, a leading South Korean auto parts company, is backing up Hyundai Motor’s car production in one of the world’s emerging economies.
Hyundai Mobis, an affiliate of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, has secured a 119,000-square-meter area in India’s southeastern city of Chennai to provide high-quality products to Hyundai Motor India (HMI), which completed the construction of its second factory Saturday.
The auto parts manufacturer has been producing core modules for the ``Getz,’’ ``Verna’’ and ``PB,’’ the first-generation models from HMI, which was established in 1996 to capture consumers in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing automobile markets.
Hyundai Mobis will now produce three core modules ― the driver’s seat, chassis and front-end ― at its second production line for the ``i10’’ compact cars, which will be the main products of the newly built HMI factory.
``Our factory has the optimum conditions of location since it is next to Hyundai Motor’s new production line,’’ a company spokesman said. ``So we can maximize the efficiency through the reduction of logistics and swift provision of auto parts.’’
Other company officials added that the firm has adopted various quality management systems at its Indian factories to manufacture top-class modules and achieve zero-defect quality.
Hyundai Mobis, which boasts a production capacity of auto parts for 600,000 cars a year at each of its two factories in India, is also trying to expand logistics hubs in the country so that its products can reach the hands of local customers more easily and promptly.
``We distribute auto parts from our logistics hub here in Chennai to other key points such as New Delhi in the north, Mumbai in the west and Calcutta in the east of the country for satisfactory after-sales service for the local customers,’’ the official said.
In addition to 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.
Early this year, the company set its sales target at 9.24 trillion won (roughly $9.78 billion) at home and 5.98 trillion won ($6.33 billion) abroad for 2008, based on its endeavors for change and innovation.
``We will redouble our efforts at home and abroad this year to be one of the world’s top 10 companies in the industry through continuous investment and quality improvement,’’ the official said.