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Seoul Mobility Show will feature the future of transportation

Published: 16 Mar. 2023, 19:18 Updated: 16 Mar. 2023, 20:03

Kang Nam-hoon, head of the Organizing Committee for Seoul Mobility Show, speaks during a press conference held ahead of the auto event on Thursday at the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) building in Seocho District, southern Seoul. [SEOUL MOTOR SHOW 2023]

Kia's EV9 large all-electric sport utility vehicle and SsangYong Motor's Torres EVX mid-sized electric SUV are set to debut at the Seoul Mobility Show 2023.

The Seoul Mobility Show, the largest auto event in Korea, will take place from March 30 to April 9 at the Kintex exhibition center in Goyang, Gyeonggi with more than 160 companies from ten countries participating.

The Organizing Committee for the Seoul Mobility Show held a press conference in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Thursday, to provide new details on the progress of the event.

The Seoul Mobility Show is Korea's only international show recognized by the Paris-based International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) and is held biannually.

Known as the Seoul Motor Show before 2021, this year’s event will go beyond showcasing just automobiles but showcase a number of new technologies related to mobility on land, sea and air, which are divided into hardware, software and service, the organizers said.

“Future mobility industries like electric vehicle [EV] conversion, self-driving cars and urban aviation mobility [UAM] aimed at achieving carbon neutrality are showing explosive growth worldwide,” Kang Nam-hoon, head of the organizing committee and president of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), said during the press conference.

“If the Seoul Motor Show served as a B2C platform, we hope the Seoul Mobility Show would be a place where related companies would meet at the B2B level to exchange and share technologies, and ultimately create new businesses through networking.”

The total size of the exhibition measures 53,541 square meters, double the size of the previous event. More than 160 companies and institutions from 10 countries around the world are joining to showcase various mobility — up 60 percent from the participants in 2021.

Exhibitors at the Seoul Mobility Show 2023 are divided into three sectors: hardware mobility, software mobility and mobility services.

Companies including SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla will take part.

SsangYong Motor's Torres EVX mid-sized electric SUV, which is set to debut at the Seoul Mobility Show 2023 [SSANGYONG MOTOR]

In particular, SsangYong Motor, making a return after three years, will unveil its Torres EVX. Hyundai's smaller affiliate Kia will also exhibit its electric SUV EV9. Foreign brands will showcase new cars of theirs as well.

US-based electric vehicle developer Alpha Motor, founded by a Korean-American, will make its debut at the Seoul Mobility Show. It is set to unveil its Wolf and Wolf Plus EV pickups at the event.

Meanwhile, some pointed out that fewer foreign brands are participating, as GM, Volkswagen, Toyota and Honda chose to skip the 2023 show. Questions were raised over the U.S. startup Alpha Motor.

Regarding such criticisms, the organizing committee said, "We are at a transitional time when the perspective is shifting from automobile to mobility, and the exhibitors of automobile cars are also changing," adding it is "meaningful" that a new EV startup like Alpha Motor has chosen the Seoul Mobility Show to launch its new car.

Conferences and forums are also organized to share trends in the mobility industry and present future blueprints, including a 2023 Display-Mobility Day scheduled for April 4 and an UAM and AAM (Advanced Air Mobility) Conference on April 6.

The committee had signed an MOU with the Institute for Aerospace Industry-Academia Collaboration and will prepare a special hall for aviation mobility at the mobility show.

The 2023 event will also provide hands-on activities for visitors.

It will hold an E-Mobility test-drive, where visitors will be able to ride on electric bikes, and a road safety program. A separate test-driving space will be prepared outdoors involving car brands including Renault Korea, Mercedes-Benz, and Genesis.

The Seoul Mobility Show will also create its own metaverse where visitors can experience new cars and mobility in the 3D world, and organize a short-form video platform.

BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]