Hyundai Mobis hires former execs to head Japanese branch

Yukihiro Hattori [HYUNDAI MOBIS]

Hyundai Mobis said Wednesday it has hired two former executives who previously worked at Mitsubishi Motors and Mazda Motor in a bid to focus on the Japanese automobile market.

Yukihiro Hattori served as a director of the purchasing team at Mitsubishi Motors and Ryoichi Adachi supervised the purchasing team at Mazda Motor.

Hattori will serve as the president of Hyundai Mobis Japan and Adachi as the vice president.

“The two have over 40 years of experience in Japanese automobile and auto component companies thus have a wealth of expertise in the field as well as a valuable local network,” said a spokesperson for Hyundai Mobis.

Ryoichi Adachi [HYUNDAI MOBIS]

The recruitment of the pair will help Hyundai strengthen its sales in the Japanese market. So far, the Korean auto parts maker has been supplying lamps, chassis, and in-vehicle infotainment systems to major automakers in Japan.

But starting this year, Hyundai Mobis aims to win the orders for additional auto parts such as autonomous and connectivity parts.

Hyundai Mobis has set a goal of winning orders worth $3.75 billion by diversifying its product portfolio and stepping up efforts to win new customers. This would mark an increase of about 50 percent compared to last year’s international orders.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]