A large corporation, rather than an automobile manufacturer, is drawing attention by participating in the Seoul Mobility Show, which opens on the 4th of this month. As the status of motor shows, once centered around finished cars, diminishes, the event's scope is expanding to encompass the entire mobility industry including autonomous driving, construction machinery, urban air mobility (UAM), and robotics.
The Seoul Mobility Show, which started as the Seoul Motor Show in 1995 and was renamed in 2021, will be held from the 4th to the 13th at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. This year's event, marking its 30th anniversary, will feature over 450 companies from 12 countries, the largest scale in history. The Seoul Mobility Show is held biennially.
This year, large corporations that have been rarely seen at motor shows, such as LOTTE and HD Hyundai, have sequentially thrown their hats into the ring. Corporations showcasing eco-friendly ships, vertical take-off and landing urban air mobility (UAM), and service robots are also expected to participate. This will be the first time ship manufacturers are participating in the Seoul Mobility Show.
LOTTE will set up booths for a total of five companies, including LOTTE Chemical, LOTTE Energy Materials, and LOTTE InfraCell in the chemical sector, as well as LOTTE Innovate and LOTTE Global Logistics. LOTTE plans to introduce mobility-related technologies and services, ranging from key materials for electric vehicle batteries to automotive interior/exterior materials, hydrogen tanks, and autonomous driving.
LOTTE Innovate is set to showcase the country's first driverless autonomous driving shuttle, which has received permission for a speed of 40 kilometers per hour, and will also offer test rides to visitors outdoors at the exhibition hall. LOTTE Global Logistics will introduce logistics technologies related to future mobility, such as autonomous freight trucks and delivery robots.
Three companies of HD Hyundai Group (HD Hyundai XiteSolution, HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, and HD Hyundai Infracore) will also participate in the motor show as the first construction machinery corporations. HD Hyundai Construction Equipment and HD Hyundai Infracore will unveil new models of next-generation excavators and smart technologies essential for the construction of infrastructure such as roads and traffic facilities for the first time in the world.
Recently, the scope of domestic and international motor shows is expanding. As finished car companies that used to participate in large numbers are withdrawing one by one, the focus of exhibitions, previously centered on automobile hardware, is shifting to electrification, autonomous driving, and other mobility technologies to encourage participation from companies in various fields. The reason finished car companies are hesitant to join motor shows is that they deem the efficiency to be low compared to the high expenses, which can reach hundreds of millions to tens of billions of won.
In 2022 and last year, only 6 and 7 finished car companies participated in the Busan Mobility Show, respectively. The number of visitors, which exceeded 1 million in 2012, has dropped to half. The situation overseas is similar. Last year, the Geneva International Motor Show, regarded as one of the world's top five motor shows, decided to cancel after 120 years since its inception. This year, the Seoul Mobility Show will see participation from 12 finished car companies, including Hyundai Motor, Kia, Genesis, BMW, Porsche, BYD, and Ineos Grenadier. In 2023, 12 companies also participated.