Chinese brands accelerate their entry into the South Korean market, with full-scale deployment of battery electric vehicles.

South Korean media: Chinese major brands accelerate their entry into South Korea, launching a full-scale attack from batteries to electric vehicles!

On July 25, the South Korean media "Chosun Ilbo" published an article stating that Chinese large enterprises are fully entering the South Korean market, establishing local subsidiaries, expanding staff, and developing stores in a wide range of fields such as batteries, home appliances, and electric vehicles.

According to South Korean industry insiders, the world's largest battery company, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), has recently started recruiting "Technical Solutions Engineers" through various job portals like LinkedIn. It is reported that they are actively mobilizing headhunters to find talents with experience in the South Korean battery industry.

The target of this recruitment is managers or supervisors with more than five years of experience, and the work location is set in Seoul. They will be responsible for the analysis and design of overseas energy storage system (ESS) projects, writing bidding documents, and technical negotiations.

When CATL established its South Korean subsidiary "CATL Korea" in Gangnam District, Seoul, at the beginning of this year, it set its business field as "sales, installation, transportation, and distribution of batteries and energy storage systems." This was interpreted as preparation to participate in the "Central Contract Market Bidding for Energy Storage Systems" organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea.

Recently, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea announced that it had launched the first round of bidding for a nationwide 540MW battery energy storage system construction project. The total investment of this project is 1 trillion won (approximately 526 million yuan RMB). In addition, subsequent bids and other projects are planned, and the scale is expected to expand further. Foreign companies meeting the qualification requirements can also participate in the bidding.

However, since the evaluation of this bidding will consider "domestic industrial and economic contributions," and it is a government project, the industry predicts that the three domestic battery companies in South Korea, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On, will have an advantage. However, some analysts believe that CATL may have an advantage due to its price competitiveness.

Chinese brands are continuously entering the South Korean domestic market, covering multiple areas. Xiaomi, which established a subsidiary in South Korea at the beginning of this year, recently officially opened its first South Korean offline store - "Xiaomi Store" - in the IFC shopping mall on Yeouido Island in Seoul. In the future, Xiaomi plans to expand its store network nationwide and operate an independent after-sales center capable of repairing large appliances.

The home appliance brand TCL also established a subsidiary in South Korea in late 2023 and has been successively recruiting e-commerce managers, supervisors, digital marketing, and customer service representatives.

In the electric vehicle sector, the world's largest electric vehicle company, BYD, launched the mid-size electric SUV "ATTO 3" in South Korea for the first time this year. Currently, BYD has official service centers in 12 major cities in South Korea and plans to increase the number of service centers to more than 25 by the end of this year. In the first quarter of this year, BYD established BYD Korea Automobile Company in addition to the existing BYD Korea Company, expanding its business scope to include the import and distribution of used cars.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838620726599688/

Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.