Conducing Comparative Performance Tests

Hyundai Mobis, which declared its determination to transform itself into an electrical auto parts specialist in its business strategy seminar held in January, launches efforts to raise its presence in the global luxurious car market. The company has been raising sales to finished car makers overseas including Daimler Benz and Volkswagen concluding a series of parts supply contracts since 2009. This time, the auto parts supplier is about to diversify its overseas sales channels through an auto parts & technology exhibition arranged for the BMW group which boasts technological excellence in the global auto market.

Hyundai Mobis (www.mobis.co.kr), the nation’s leading auto parts supplier said it had hosted “MOBIS Tech Fair” in the BMW group’s research center in Munich, Germany on March 17-18. The fair was attended by Lotheremmer Hemmer, BMW group’s senior purchasing executive and about 100 R&D employees from the company.

The event was made possible at the invitation of the German automaker’s top executives responsible for purchasing, which is a rare move for the company to request a solo exhibition from a parts company. In a sense, this reflects the changing attitude of foreign carmakers toward Korean parts suppliers.

With this in mind, Mobis decided to turn the occasion into an opportunity that can generate substantive contracts by making it an unusual exhibition, rarely seen elsewhere. Instead of the usual way of presentation where information is given by suppliers in one way, it made a more interesting presentation where its products are directly compared with the parts the BMW group has been using so far, an apparent gesture of showing the confidence in its product quality.

Mobis performed benchmark testing and comparative trials on the nine cutting-edge automotive parts requested by the BMW group such as the Around View Monitor (AVM), Intelligent Battery Sensor (IBS), and Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) and their equivalents currently used by the German carmaker. The tests showed that not a few Mobis’ technologies showed equal or higher levels than those BMW is currently using.

During the exhibition period, the two companies had meetings on the supply of LED headlamps, a key value-added item of the car industry. Mobis already supplied rear lamps worth US$80 million to BMW for its 3 Series in 2009, receiving pretty positive response from the group and raising its recognition in the global market as well.

Mobis has been accelerating its forays into the global premium car market through similar parts & technology fairs and aggressive marketing campaign since 2009 with tangible success. For instance, it signed two deals with Daimler on the supply of audio systems worth US$35 million and IBS worth US$95 million. Moreover, it supplied lamps worth US$20 million to Volkswagen and RCL (Rear Combination Assembly) worth US$80 million to BMW.

To expand overseas sales, the company intends to launch aggressive marketing efforts and, in line with this, set a sales goal of US$1.51 billion for core parts, a more than 30% rise from last year’s record of US$1.15 billion. In addition to the efforts it makes for the European luxury car makers, the company will increase export items and promote module sales to U.S. China, and Japan in order to diversify its sales portfolio.

To this end, it will focus its investment into the development of advanced electrical parts that generate added value. It will put 360 billion won into R&D efforts and recruit more people from the fields of software, electrical engineering, IT, and mechatronics to diversify its research areas which have been largely concentrated on mechanical and industrial engineering