By Kim Tae-gyu
The first public automotive museum in Korea will be constructed in the international city of Songdo, west of Seoul, to demonstrate the country’s leading-edge technologies and fast-track growth in the competitive business.
W Square Properties said Sunday that it aims to break ground for the museum, tentatively named the Central Auto Forum, next year with an aim of completing it in 2014 ahead of the Incheon Asian Games.
Its CEO Yoo Sung-sik said that several companies have shown interest in the facility such as Hyundai Motor, GM Korea, Audi and Volkswagen as well as Samsung Construction and Trade (C&T).
``We are currently in talks with automakers both at home and abroad to sign a long-term operation contract of more than 20 years. Based on the deal, we will finance and build the museum,’’ Yoo said.
``This built-to-suit format is a wholly new fashion of constructing buildings as corporations do not want to channel investments in bulk from the beginning. It will be a success.’’
A special purpose company was registered last month called CES Enterprise, which will forge ahead with the car museum project together with W Square Properties.
Unlike automakers, Samsung C&T thinks the museum will be a place to show off Korea’s state-of-the-art technologies in various industries.
Kim said that it is high time for Korea to have an auto museum, which is commensurate to its status in the international car industry.
``Currently, most of the world’s leading automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, GM, Toyota and Nissan operate museums. Those museums have been attracting a large number of local family visitors as well as foreign tourists on both weekdays and weekends,’’ Kim said.
``As Korea’s automobile industry is ranked within the world’s top five and automobiles are no longer just an industry but rather a lifestyle, the need for an automobile museum has continually been raised.’’
The Mercedes-Benz Museum housed in Stuttgart, home to the brand, is famous for its unique cloverleaf concept using three overlapping circles with a triangular atrium attracts up to 1 million visitors every year.
Kim said the Central Auto Forum will be able to become as big a tourist attraction, thanks to the infrastructure and easy access to Songdo.
``Songdo is within 15-minutes of Incheon International Airport. Plus, it has the fourth-largest convention center in the nation, a five-star hotel, transfer center, an automobile component factory and research center under construction,’’ Kim said.
``In addition, global campuses, United Nations affiliated organizations, IBM, Samsung Biologics and other multinational companies are settling there. It will be the best place to first embrace the country’s automotive history.’’