Analysis of the automotive production in South Korea
- Four automotive groups are operating in South Korea:
1. The Hyundai-Kia group is the most powerful carmaker established in Korea (fifth largest carmaker in the world). It’s a Korean national group formed in 1998 when Hyundai acquired Kia.
2. GM Korea (Korean subsidiary of the American group GM) was formed in 2001 by the acquisition of the Korean automotive company Daewoo. Today, GM Korea is experiencing great difficulties due to the end of its exports to Europe, Russia and USA, following the discontinuation of the Chevrolet brand in Europe and Russia, and the relocation of various models to Mexico. Production of Opel branded cars in Korea will also stop in 2020 as PSA took over Opel.
3. Renault-Samsung (Renault's Korean subsidiary) was created following the acquisition of Samsung Motors by Renault in 2000.
4. Ssangyong(Korean subsidiary of Mahindra) was formed following the acquisition of Ssangyong by the Indian Mahindra in 2011.
- The Hyundai-Kia group has therefore become over the years the only independent national Korean carmaker. Hyundai-Kia gets 70% of the Korean market with locally based production, which is also exported worldwide. However, since several years now, plants located in Europe and North America have slightly reduced the volume of its exports.
- Consequently, even if the global production has increased these last years, and as a consequence of relocation on targeted markets and GM strategy, the Korean production has been slowly declining for several years, from 4.5 million units in 2015 to 3.8 million in 2019.
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