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KG Motors, which manufactures and sells the ultra-compact “mibot” EV, is moving toward mass production of the units. It will start mass production in October 2025 at an assembly plant it has built near its headquarters. The company plans to produce 300 units in FY2025, 3,000 units in FY2026, and 10,000 units in FY2027.
The mibot is a one-person vehicle designed for short-distance travel, with a range of 100 kilometers per charge. The planned price at the time of mass production is 1.1 million yen ($7,700 USD), including consumption tax.
The assembly plant in Higashi Hiroshima City consists of a single production line with a main line of seven processes and a subline of four processes. Since there are only a few parts, the number of processes is less than that of a normal automobile production line.
Last month, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group announced that it will invest $21 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. In addition to investing $6 billion to build a steel mill in Louisiana, the company will increase its U.S. auto production capacity by 70% to 1.2 million vehicles per year at a cost of $9 billion
The $21 billion investment in the U.S. will be the largest ever made by the Hyundai Motor Group. The investment will be made between 2025 and 2028 and will cover a wide range of fields, including automobiles, steel, parts and energy.
Honda plans to launch an electric motorcycle in Vietnam this month. The suggested retail price is less than 29 million VND (about $1183) without battery. The company is targeting the younger generation, who often use motorcycles to commute to school.
The name of the motorcycle to be sold is “ICON e:”. It will be manufactured at the company’s Binh Phuoc plant in northern Vietnam and will initially be sold through authorized dealers in seven provinces and cities. The maximum speed is 48 km/h, and it takes about 8 hours to charge the battery from zero to full. The maximum distance that can be traveled on a full charge is 71 kilometers. Because it does not require a driver’s license, which can be obtained at age 18, it is expected to be used by high school students on their way to school.
South Korea is considering purchasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) and sharing the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country as bargaining chips in negotiations with the U.S., which President Trump is seeking to revive, but these are not sufficient materials, and the future is uncertain. South Korea is the second largest shipbuilding nation after China and can produce high value-added vessels such as LNG carriers.
The numbers vary greatly from country to country. This is strongly influenced by the geopolitical and economic intentions behind them. Broadly speaking, it seems that countries with strong economic and strategic ties to China have been given a higher tax rate as a form of sanction. Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar are all examples of this. On the other hand, countries where U.S. companies have a direct presence have also been given a more restrained rate from a supply chain perspective. Furthermore, from a political and security perspective, the Philippines, for example, which has close military and diplomatic ties with the United States, can be said to be relatively privileged.
On April 12, as I write this, things are still in flux. There is a lot of media coverage every day, with reports on the tariffs reaching almost hysterical levels. The reciprocal tariff rate for Japan announced by the U.S. is 24%, which is an unexpectedly high level given the past relationship between the two countries.
As a result, Japan’s real GDP is expected to fall by about 0.6% in the short term (2025) and 1.8% in the medium term (2029). This will have a huge impact on Japan, which has maintained a growth rate of around 3% per year. It has been reported that Japan is currently negotiating with the Trump administration, but it is doubtful whether the current Japanese government will be able to negotiate effectively with the US. We will see whether the terms will be reconsidered after the negotiations in the future.
I would just like to point out one thing: President Trump talks about Japan’s failure to buy American cars as unfair and negligent, but this is a clear mistake. It is true that American cars do not sell well in Japan. GM is the only company with a formal dealer network in Japan, and it is even hard to find GM dealer shops in Japan. Chrysler pulled out in 2018 and Ford in 2016.
Kubota plans to build a tractor factory in India, open that will be operational by 2030. The investment is expected to be in the tens of billions of yen. The annual production volume will be increased to approximately 240,000 units, double the current volume.
India accounts for about half of the global tractor market in terms of volume, but Kubota’s market share in the country is only about 25%. The company aims to increase sales by developing new products in cooperation with the local manufacturer it has acquired.
Currently, it produces about 120,000 units a year at three factories, including Escorts, which it acquired in April 2022 for about $953,020,000 USD (140 billion yen). Its production capacity is 170,000 to 180,000 units, but it is expected to fall short of that in the next five years.
Kia is launching a new range of EVs that can be easily modified to meet different interior and design needs and will begin selling a mid-size van in Korea in July. The company is currently in talks with about 100 companies in the transportation and logistics industry. Although global EV sales are currently sluggish, Kia hopes to develop a new revenue stream by promoting the fact that the specifications of these vehicles can be changed to suit the needs of different industries.
“We have opened up a new paradigm with our customized EVs.” The CEO spoke with great enthusiasm at Kia’s EV Day event in Spain. The company unveiled the first production model of the “PV5,” a mid-size van that is the first in a series of independently developed EVs called “Platform Beyond Vehicle” (PBV).
Editor’s Note: For a brief period from Feb. 8 – 12, I visited the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and conducted interviews with several people involved in the construction equipment industry. Here is a summary of the country and the stories I heard from industry experts.
Country Profile: Population 280 million, median age 29.7, and 90% of the population is Muslim. Comprises over 17,000 islands. The current capital is Jakarta, but due to worsening problems of land subsidence and air pollution, a plan has been made to move the capital to Nusantara, and construction of the new capital has already begun.
PSR Analysis: Chinese-made construction machinery is rapidly gaining popularity in the Indonesian market, where price is a key consideration–the initial cost is on average about 20% cheaper than Japanese or Western brands. The quality of Chinese-made machines has improved dramatically compared recently, and the after-sales service is also responsive, making it easy for buyers to select them.
The financial results for the year ending December 2024 of the three major Korean battery manufacturers all showed a decrease in sales compared to the previous year due to the sluggish sales of EVs worldwide. Unable to recoup the amount of upfront investment they had made in anticipation of the increasing shift to EVs, the companies are reviewing their plans for increased production.
SK ON has announced that it will delay the startup of its new U.S. plant, which was planned for 2025. LG Energy Solution, the largest company in South Korea, also reported a decline in both revenue and profit. Sales fell 24% and operating profit fell 73%. This is the first time since the company became an independent battery-focused subsidiary of the LG Group in 2020 that it has seen a decline in both sales and profits. Samsung SDI also saw a 23% drop in sales and a 76% drop in operating profit.
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