Hyundai Motor pledges more investment into Israel
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun, right, shakes hands with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin during the president’s visit to the group’s research center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
By Nam Hyun-woo
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun pledged an expansion in the group's investment into Israeli startups, during the country's President Reuven Rivlin's visit to the automaker's research center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Monday.
“Hyundai Motor Group plans to enhance its scale of investment into Israeli startups in various industries,” Chung said during their meeting. “Some of the technologies we developed jointly with Israeli startups will be applied to mass-produced cars coming in the future.”
The remark came amid President Rivlin's visit to the research center, better known as the Hyundai Kia Namyang Technology Center. Rivlin arrived in Korea Sunday and had a summit with Korea's President Moon Jae-in on Monday. He will be in the country until Thursday.
“Together, Israel's unique startups and Hyundai can turn the challenges of the future into great opportunities,” Rivlin said. “I know that you have already developed partnerships with some Israeli startups in these fields, and I hope that this is just the start. I look forward to expanding our cooperation. Together we can lead the way into the future of smart, safe, connected and clean cars.”
Last month, the automaker announced that it invested in MDGo, which makes automated reports on passengers' medical data in the case of accidents, and began joint work to incorporate the startup's analysis feature into Hyundai's connected car services.
In November, the group set up Hyundai CRADLE Tel Aviv and made investments into local startups including deep learning system developer Allegro.ai, energy firm H2Pro and drone maker Percepto.
CRADLE is Hyundai Motor Group's corporate venture and open innovation business. It's based in multiple cities across the world, partnering with and investing in promising global startups to accelerate the development of future technologies.
During his visit to the research center, Rivlin tested advanced automobile technologies, including autonomous driving installed in the Nexo fuel cell electric vehicle, and other industrial technologies such as wearable robots and air purification systems.
Hyundai Motor Group has been maintaining a strong presence in the Israeli car market, which sold 260,000 vehicles last year. Last year, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors sold 38,022 and 35,806 vehicles in Israel, respectively, becoming the No. 1 and No. 2 brands in the country.