Whilst South Korea’s biggest tyre manufacturer prepares for the launch of its new electric bus tyre range later this year, we decided to have a closer look at the rise of this tyre giant hailing from the East.

The company announced its South Korean distributor, NGVI, has secured a supply contract for a hydrogen electric bus project with a second municipality in the country, this time with the county of Ulju. Loop will supply its trademarked hydrogen fuel cell system (eFlow).

The eight-seater vehicle, which accommodates seven passengers and a safety officer, uses 42Dot’s in-house self-driving integrated platform ‘Tap’.

KG Mobility (known previously as Ssangyong Motor Company), has bought electric commercial vehicle manufacturer, Edison Motors Company, and will change the name to KGM Commercial.

The company also took the time to display the LF95 trailer tyre for regional haul applications from Laufenn, Hankook's second-line brand.

Sales of commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in East Asia’s seven main markets, excluding China, fell by over 2% year-on-year to 372,543 units in the first quarter of 2023 after growing just 1.6% to 364,641 units in the fourth quarter of last year.

This moves comes on the back of a major repower bus order in the Capital and to combat competition primarily coming from Chinese OEMs.

June saw Hyundai sign a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean Ministry of Environment, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and others to convert more than 1,300 public transportation vehicles to hydrogen fuel cell power by 2026.

The strong sales growth came about despite economic growth continuing to slow sharply in the first quarter to 0.8% year-on-year from 1.4% in the fourth quarter and 2.6% in the whole of last year.

Volvo Trucks' says its e-truck sales already exceeds 5,000 units worldwide.

The move to acquire Edison Motors is part of KG Mobility’s new parent company’s strategy to expand into the global automotive market, particularly in the fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) segment.

Government and industry in South Korea are working together to invest in hydrogen as an energy for transport.