POSCO International to expand EV parts production to Europe

POSCO International will establish a motor core plant in Poland or Slovakia, giving production bases in Asia, North America, and Europe.

The company has factories in China and India, and recently finalized the establishment of a production corporation in Mexico.

Motor cores would be among POSCO’s growth drivers as the global automobile market shifts towards electric and hydrogen vehicles.

POSCO International wants to secure a 20 percent share of the global market by increasing its production capacity to four million units by 2025, including two million units in South Korea, 900,000 units in China, 650,000 units in North America, and 450,000 units in Europe.

The establishment of a European plant helps POSCO International's effort to become an eco-friendly car component company.

The company will also establish a European subsidiary to be finalized in the first half of next year and kick off its operations in 2024.

POSCO International and POSCO SPS are considering jointly making equity investments in the subsidiary or setting up a joint venture company.

POSCO SPS will be in charge of production while POSCO International, will take responsibility for sales and marketing.

POSCO’s Chinese subsidiary had been manufacturing motor cores for home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines but began producing those for electric vehicles in 2019.

Its India subsidiary is mainly making industrial motor cores and motor cores for transformers but is likely to switch to motor cores for electric vehicles.

Its annual sales target is 750 billion won.