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| President Yoon Suk Yeol, second from left, and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, left, are being briefed on the company's export status at the Hyundai Motor Ulsan export pier, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kim Hyun-bin
President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant and was briefed on the current status of the company, according to the automobile maker, Thursday.
The president attended the ceremony for the groundbreaking petrochemical complex in Ulsan and then visited Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant to tour the automobile export shipping pier and the Genesis production line.
President Yoon emphasized that since Ulsan was designated as a specific industrial zone in 1962, it has led the nation's key industries centered on automobiles, shipbuilding and petrochemicals for over 60 years and plays a pivotal role in the national economy accounting for 13 percent of Korea's exports.
Last year, despite unfavorable circumstances, production in Korea increased by 6.9 percent to 1,732,317 vehicles. Exports increased by 9.9 percent to 1,009,025 vehicles.
This year, the company plans to produce a total of 1.85 million vehicles domestically and export 1.08 million cars overseas, overcoming the increasingly uncertain internal and external business environment.
Compared to 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak, this is an increase of 14.3 percent in production and 28.7 percent in exports.
Hyundai Motor also announced plans to develop its Ulsan plant into a global future car hub. The Ulsan plant is the world's largest automobile production facility on a single-plant basis.
Last year alone, a total of 1,424,141 vehicles were produced across 17 models, including the premium brand Genesis, with about 66 percent of them (935,590 vehicles) exported overseas.
In addition, the Ulsan plant plans to introduce a variety of future vehicles by expanding eco-friendly high-tech production facilities.
Last year, Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to invest 21 trillion won ($15.9 billion) in the domestic electric vehicle (EV) sector by 2030 and produce 1.44 million vehicles in Korea, which accounts for 45 percent of current global EV production.
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