Hyundai Mobis opens proving ground in China

Hyundai Mobis, Korea’s leading auto parts maker affiliated with Hyundai Motor, last Tuesday finished constructing its winter proving ground in northeastern China.

The company said that the test site is some 125 kilometers from Heihe municipality in Heilongjiang province, one of the world’s most suitable locations for cold weather automotive testing along with Arjeplog in Sweden and Wanaka in New Zealand.

The average temperature lingers at minus 20 degrees Celsius and can fall as low as 42 degrees below zero in February ― 10 degrees lower than even the polar regions of Arjeplog, the company said.

Continental, TRW and other global parts manufacturers are also known to operate test sites in this region.

The newly built proving ground spans over 3 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to the size of Yeouido. It includes various tracks and slopes covered with either snow or ice and also a service facility to inspect and maintain its test vehicles.

The auto parts maker said it would prioritize testing the company’s brake and steering components, such as the Mobis Electronic Brake and Smart Parking Assist System, under extreme conditions so that it may conduct intensive analyses of the test drive results and help optimize the performance of its technologies. Its ultimate goal is to improve its products’ quality.

“The main incentive behind establishing the proving ground ― in addition to the ones we already operate in Sweden and New Zealand ― was to sustain the expanding sales market for Hyundai-Kia in China,” the company stated in a press release.

Hyundai Mobis plans to create a database of the results from all three proving grounds and share the collected data with its technical research center in Shanghai and its auto parts plant in Wuxi in order to respond quickly to China’s growing demand for better technology and quality.

By Kim Joo-hyun (jhk@heraldcorp.com)