Hansae Mobility opens Uzbekistan plant to expand Central Asian business

QUVASOY, Uzbekistan — Hansae Mobility, a Korean automotive parts manufacturer supplying global automakers producing both internal combustion engine vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs), has expanded its overseas production capacity with the completion of a new plant in Quvasoy, in Uzbekistan's Fergana Region.

Hansae Yes24 Group's automotive parts subsidiary held a completion ceremony for the plant Tuesday (local time) in a free economic zone in Quvasoy. The facility is operated by Hansae Mobility Turan, an Uzbek subsidiary wholly owned by Hansae Mobility.

The ceremony was attended by Hansae Mobility CEO and Hansae Vice Chairman Kim Ik-whan, Mirzohid Ubaydullayev, first deputy governor of Fergana Region, and other officials and representatives from Korea and Uzbekistan.

The plant is expected to enable Hansae Mobility to supply its products more quickly to clients in Uzbekistan and expand its customer base in neighboring countries across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Before the plant opened, Hansae Mobility had to export the parts from Korea. The new facility adds to the company's existing manufacturing bases in Michigan in the United States, Jiangsu and Jilin provinces in China, and Daegu in Korea, further strengthening its global production network.

Hansae Mobility’s clients include UzAuto Motors, General Motors (GM), Stellantis, Volkswagen, Porsche, Maserati, Rivian and VinFast, as well as Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Group and KG Mobility.

“Hansae Mobility has been supplying automotive parts to Uzbekistan since 1995. Now, we aim to respond more swiftly to customer demands by shifting to local production,” Kim said during the event.

“We plan to develop our Turan plant into a strategic hub to expand our business across Uzbekistan and into neighboring Central Asian markets.”

Hansae Mobility Executive Vice President Kim Pan-jo said that producing parts close to customers “ensures a stable supply of necessary parts and allows for a faster response to changes in production schedules or product requirements.”

Experts from the company's headquarters in Daegu have been transferring technology and quality control knowhow to locally hired employees to help them consistently produce high-quality parts, Hansae Mobility Turan CEO Weon Jong-dae said. Hansae Mobility holds 186 international patents and 208 in Korea.

The Turan plant is currently run by 100 technicians, with that number set to increase to 140 by the end of the year. If planned investments for capacity expansion happen as scheduled, the figure will rise to 250 next year.

Prospects in Uzbekistan

In his congratulatory speech at the plant's completion ceremony, Fergana Region First Deputy Gov. Mirzoxid Murodilovich said the event marked a significant step toward strengthening ties not only between the region and Korea but also between Uzbekistan and Korea.

“Today, 48 enterprises with Korean capital are operating in Fergana and 12 projects totaling $328 million are underway. Furthermore, we have attracted more than $76 million in foreign direct investment through eight ongoing projects with our Korean partners,” he said.

“The Turan plant project, with a total budget of $30 million, holds a great significance in strengthening our region's industrial capacity, advancing automotive parts production, and expanding international industrial cooperation. Once fully operational, it is expected to generate an annual production value of over 300 billion sum ($25 million) and reach approximately $5 million in exports.”

Davron Khidoyatov, vice chairman of UzAuto Sanoat, a holding company of UzAuto, said in his congratulatory speech that Uzbekistan’s automobile industry is now transforming “at a remarkably rapid pace.”

“As of this year, the country aims to produce 510,000 vehicles, a figure that has more than doubled compared to a decade ago. In 2016, annual production stood at just 200,000 units, but ten years later, it has reached the half-million mark,” he said.

“Today, vehicle manufacturing in Uzbekistan is no longer driven solely by UzAuto. Global electric vehicle manufacturers like BYD Uzbekistan and ADM are actively producing cars, and Volkswagen also joined the lineup, kicking off production this past June. With this momentum, Uzbekistan's localization rate is projected to exceed 80 percent in the near future.”

He added, “In this rapidly evolving market, our comhas successfully commenced the production of braking and steering systems, critical components directly linked to safety that require stringent approval from GM. Just five to ten years ago, it was unimaginable that Uzbekistan could manufacture such safety-critical products. This milestone is the proud fruition of a journey that began in April 2021, when we first reached an agreement to establish this manufacturing plant here in Uzbekistan."

Nozim Mirkhaydarov, deputy director of purchasing at UzAuto, said the company’s decades-long partnership with Hansae Mobility helped grow its export volumes.

“Since Hansae Yes24 Group acquired ERAE in 2024 and renamed it Hansae Mobility, our partnership has become stronger than before. The company’s aim for global expansion with the new Turan plant explains that,” he said.

“Before the new plant, we imported the parts from Korea taking 30 to 45 days for shipment. Now, it takes just three days for us to add to our inventory at Asaka plant, enabling good finance and stable production."

UzAuto’s main export targets are in the CIS region, with Kazakhstan the largest market, importing 40,000 vehicles annually, he said.

“Our next-largest market is Azerbaijan that imports about 10,000 vehicles per year. We also sell to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. With GM, we have an ambition to expand our global markets to the Middle East and other countries where negotiations are underway," he said.

"By next year, we are planning to produce around 400,000 vehicles a year. If BYD Uzbekistan and ADM become our new clients, that will give us an additional 100,000 vehicles per year to export.”

From brake to shaft

Built on a 20,000-square-meter site, the Turan plant currently produces eight types of steering and braking components for GM's Chevrolet models, including caliper brakes, drum brakes, power brakes, steering columns and intermediate shafts. The facility began producing parts for the Damas and Labo models on Sept. 18 and for the Cobalt on Monday.

The parts are supplied to UzAuto's Khorezm plant in Pitnak for the Damas and Labo models, with an annual production volume of 150,000 vehicles, and to its Asaka plant in Andijan Region for the Cobalt, with an annual volume of 160,000 vehicles.

UzAuto generates average annual sales of $46 million for Hansae Mobility.

Hansae invested $10 million in the Turan plant earlier this year and plans to invest an additional $3 million later this year to transfer manufacturing technologies developed in Daegu and expand the plant's product portfolio to include half-shafts. The company plans to invest a further $12 million next year to broaden the product lineup.

The completion of the Turan plant marks a new step in Hansae Mobility's efforts to expand its global manufacturing network and customer base, while strengthening Hansae Yes24 Group's overall business capacity.

Beyond UzAuto, Hansae Mobility, established in 1984 with over 2 million vehicle parts capacity per year, is now discussing with Uzbekistan BYD and ADM for a new supplier contract. Should the deals go through and the scheduled investment into the Turan plant executed next year, Hansae Mobility Turan expects to double its annual sales currently at 60 billion won ($45 million) and reach 200 billion won by 2030.

The company's U.S. plant in Pontiac, Michigan, will also be relocated to nearby Chesterfield next year, bringing it closer to Stellantis' manufacturing facilities in Detroit. The move will triple the plant's production capacity, enabling it to supply client automakers across North America more quickly.

Other businesses under Hansae Yes24 Group, including original design manufacturing (ODM) clothing, fashion brands and K-culture and education content, also plan to expand into Uzbekistan, building on the group's presence established through the Turan plant.