Automakers that have been around for ten thousand years,’reversing the situation’ in the era of future cars

Input 2021.02.04 15:11

Recently, two iconic events have occurred in the automotive industry. One is the shortage of supply and demand for semiconductors for electronic devices, so global automakers have all started to cut production, while the other is the global IT dinosaur Apple. Hyundai Motor (005380)In response, Hyundai Motor Group’s stock price soared as the company requested cooperation to produce Apple cars.

As future car technologies such as autonomous driving accelerate, the status of global automakers, which have been reigning as the leaders of the industry, is being degraded to the top of the IT industry. Accordingly, it is analyzed that automakers should establish a stable supply chain of IT parts and develop their own technology in order not to become a simple subcontracted production base for IT companies.

The semiconductor supply and demand crisis, which started at the end of last year, is affecting not only global automakers such as Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, and Ford, but also domestic companies such as GM Korea. GM Korea decided to operate only half of its Bupyeong 2 plant from the 8th, as the supply and demand of semiconductors for electronic equipment was disrupted. GM Korea plans to “minimize the impact of the semiconductor supply and demand situation on production,” but earnings deterioration due to production disruptions is expected to be inevitable. Previously, its headquarters, General Motors (GM), announced that it would completely stop producing cars in Fairfax in the US, Ingersoll in Canada and Potosi, Mexico.

The Hyundai Motor Group is in a position that “there is no immediate production disruption,” as it has secured semiconductors for vehicles, but if the situation prolongs, it has no choice but to adjust production. In a conference call that recently announced 4Q results, Jung Seong-guk, managing director of Kia’s IR, said, “In the short term, we have prepared to prevent production disruptions, but it is difficult to say that we are ready for 3-6 months.

The direct factor that caused the supply and demand shortage of semiconductors is the corona incident that spread to the world last year, but the more fundamental background is the phenomenon of automobiles becoming IT devices due to the emergence of electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. In addition to opening the window and operating the wiper, various functions such as engine and brake control, advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), and vehicle infotainment (IVI) were installed, and the situation in which automobiles became the largest semiconductor consumer product has caused the supply and demand of semiconductors.

The situation in which automobiles are transformed into a single computer is also changing the status of parts companies that supply parts and finished cars. For example, if electronic component companies such as Bosch, Mobil-I, which makes cameras and sensors for self-driving cars, and Nvidia, an autonomous semiconductor manufacturer, stop supplying, as in the current semiconductor supply and demand shortage, automakers will immediately disrupt production. I have no choice but to.

Until now, auto parts makers in Korea have been considered as subcontractors that produce and deliver products according to the orders of finished car makers, but in the future car era when a large number of electronic parts are mounted, finished car makers become a That’s it.

This situation can also be confirmed by the fact that Hyundai Motor Group stocks have risen at the same time in the news that Apple has recently proposed a joint venture in the electric vehicle business with the Hyundai Motor Group. In the meantime, automakers that make engines, the core of internal combustion locomotives, have taken the lead in the industry, but in the era when electric vehicles or autonomous vehicles replace internal combustion locomotives, the IT industry with software technology can give a sense of work to automakers. have. This means that a battery-powered electric vehicle or an automaker that does not have autonomous driving technology can be limited to a consignment company that simply assembles the car by receiving key parts from outside.

Woo-jin Joo, a professor of business administration at Seoul National University, said, “The situation that the future car transformation continues will be an opportunity and a challenge for automakers. It is important for finished car makers to secure their own technological competitiveness by expanding R&D investment in future cars. The task” he said.