Hyundai Motor to provide 4,100 cars for PyeongChang Olympics

Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Yang Woong-chul, second from right, poses with Korea’s national bobsleigh team officials during a sleigh delivery ceremony at the firm’s research center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Oct. 21. / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Hyundai Motor is set to help the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics by providing transport vehicles during the sports event next year. The nation’s largest carmaker also sponsors Korea’s national bobsleigh team.

As an official tier-one sponsor of the world’s largest winter sports events as well as the largest festival for disabled athletics, Hyundai Motor has promised to offer some 4,100 vehicles. Lots of financial support also will be provided for both events, a Hyundai Motor official said Wednesday.

“It is such an honor for Hyundai Motor Group to contribute to the winter festival for global citizens,” said Hyundai Motor President Chung Jin-haeng during the signing ceremony for the sponsorship in July 2015. “We will provide our best support to help the event be a success.”

Back then, the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games welcomed Hyundai Motor’s decision noting, “It will be a huge lift for the events’ smooth operation. We deeply appreciate it.”

Along with Hyundai Motor Group, the committee for the PyeongChang Olympics has also secured other sponsors including Samsung, KT, Korean Air and North Face.

This is not the first time for the world’s fifth-largest automaker to sponsor a global sports event.

Hyundai Motor Group has been an official sponsoring partner for the FIFA World Cup events for many years. It also previously sponsored the 2012 Yeosu EXPO, the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju.

Separate from its sponsorship of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics, Hyundai Motor has supported Korea’s national bobsleigh team since September 2014.

In a bid to underpin the national team, Hyundai Motor Group has used its automotive technologies to develop a high-performance sleigh at its Namyang research and development center.

Last October, Hyundai Motor successfully introduced the first domestically developed high-performance sleigh.

A Hyundai Motor official said the new sleigh’s tailor-made chassis and body frame would help the team enhance cornering flexibility while minimizing air resistance, which will increase maximum speed.

“Hyundai Motor’s support has contributed greatly to our team’s performance,” said national team head coach Lee Yong. “The team will do our utmost efforts to win a medal in the Olympics next year.”

During the games, Hyundai Motor Group will show its competitiveness in eco-friendly technologies by operating a bus that uses a hydrogen fuel cell as its power source.

Hyundai came up with its first-generation hydrogen fuel cell buses midway through the 2000s, which the automaker offered for visitors to the German World Cup in 2006 and the G20 summit in Seoul in 2010. The model runs 400 kilometers after charging.

Hyundai Motor will demonstrate its second-generation hydrogen-powered model next year, which is expected to double the driving distance to 800 kilometers.

Along with its sister company Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor is a representative company of Asia’s No. 4 economy.

Last year, the company netted a profit of 5.72 trillion won on sales of 93.65 trillion won.