On the 15th in the afternoon at a fire station in Seoul. A familiar logo was attached to fire trucks parked in a row. It was the logo of Hyundai Department Store Group (Hyundai G.F Holdings), filled with green, black and yellow inside a rectangle. The Hyundai Department Store Group logo, rendered in white and black, was also clear on the side and rear of the aerial ladder of the high-rise ladder truck deployed for high-rise building fires.
Do you buy fire trucks at a department store? "Suddenly curious," I asked a firefighter. The firefighter said, "It's a fire truck manufactured by Hyundai Everdigm," adding, "You can see them without much difficulty at other fire stations as well."
◇ Average 780 million won per fire truck
Hyundai Everdigm is a heavy equipment manufacturer that makes construction machinery and special vehicles such as generators, concrete pump trucks and military trucks. It originated from Hanwoo Construction Machinery, founded in 1994. It was incorporated into Hyundai Department Store Group in 2015 and changed its name to Hyundai Everdigm in 2021.
One of Hyundai Everdigm's core businesses is the vehicle business institutional sector, including fire trucks. Last year, vehicle business sales were about 137.2 billion won, accounting for nearly half of total sales. In particular, it shows strength in the fire truck manufacturing field. According to the company, some special fire trucks, such as high-rise aerial ladder fire trucks, are effectively produced exclusively in Korea by Hyundai Everdigm.
The average price of fire trucks supplied by Hyundai Everdigm was 782.1 million won as of last year. Depending on the model and applied technology—such as rescue fire trucks, articulated ladder fire trucks, pumpers and water tenders—the price ranges from the 400 million won range to the 1.3 billion won range. Hyundai Everdigm's lineup of fire truck products comes to 17 types.
Hyundai Everdigm has been making fire trucks at its headquarters plant in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, since 2005. The fire trucks produced are supplied to fire headquarters nationwide through bids by the Public Procurement Service and other channels. Last year's fire truck sales were 33.3 billion won, up 29% from the previous year.
◇ Exporting 316 fire trucks to Iraq
The domestic fire truck market centers on public procurement. There is stable demand, but the market size has limits. That is why Hyundai Everdigm is focusing on overseas markets. In fact, Hyundai Everdigm's fire truck sales have a higher share overseas than in Korea.
In Aug. last year, Hyundai Everdigm signed a fire truck supply contract worth a total of $97.24 million (about 146 billion won) with the Iraqi government. From Aug. this year to Mar. 2027, it plans to deliver 316 units over three batches, including articulated ladder fire trucks, pumpers, water tenders and rescue trucks.
High-rise ladder trucks are also a key product in the export strategy. Hyundai Everdigm released a 60-meter-class high-rise ladder truck last year. It is higher than the previous domestic maximum height of 53 meters. The company believes the 60-meter-class high-rise ladder truck has specifications that can compete with products from overseas corporations and is expanding sales mainly in the European market.
Hyundai Everdigm is also expanding into the firefighting robot field. Its goal is to supply a firefighting tactics system that combines an integrated command vehicle with an unmanned firefighting robot and a drone. It also plans to unveil related new products within this month.
◇ National Fire Agency: "Expanding exports through R&D investment"
Hyundai Everdigm's overseas push also intersects with tasks facing Korea's firefighting industry. The global fire truck and firefighting equipment market is led by U.S. and European corporations. U.S. specialty vehicle manufacturers Oshkosh and REV, and German firefighting equipment manufacturer Magirus are representative. Last year, the global fire truck market was estimated at $8.7 billion (about 13 trillion won), with the top five corporations accounting for nearly half.
By contrast, Korea's firefighting industry exports are still not large. As of last year, exports by the domestic firefighting industry were about 240 billion won. Its share in the global market is negligible. The National Fire Agency and the domestic firefighting industry plan to strengthen research and development (R&D) to expand the export base. The National Fire Agency's R&D-related budget also increased from 30.5 billion won last year to 50.3 billion won this year.
The National Fire Agency continues official development assistance (ODA) that donates firefighting equipment slated for replacement to developing countries free of charge. The idea is to promote the Korean-style firefighting system overseas and link it to future export results. National Fire Agency Commissioner Kim Seung-ryong recently embarked on "sales diplomacy," visiting Indonesia and Vietnam to support the overseas expansion of the firefighting industry.
An official at the National Fire Agency said, "Compared with U.S. and European corporations, Korea's firefighting industry still has a technology gap, and compared with Chinese products, there are aspects where price competitiveness falls short," adding, "We will pursue policies to promote the firefighting industry through rationalizing regulations, supporting exports and boosting the competitiveness of small businesses."