LG Group’s automotive pivot pays off, relevant sales nearly doubles on yr

[Source : LG Energy Solution Youtube]

South Korea’s fourth largest conglomerate LG has achieved 10 trillion won ($7.09 billion) sales milestone from automotives after betting high on electronics and components behind the power of future mobility.

Based on third-quarter sales results of companies engaged in automotive business, LG Group earned a total 10.37 trillion won ? 2.35 trillion won from LG Electronics’ vehicle component solutions, 380.8 billion won from LG Innotek’s vehicle components, and 7.65 trillion won from LG Energy Solution producing EV batteries.

The revenue from automotives has surged around 76 percent from 5.9 trillion won in the same period a year ago and also nearly 40 percent from the previous quarter.

When adding LG Display’s sales in automotive display panels and LG Chem’s battery materials, the group’s automotive-related sales would reach 12.85 trillion won, almost equivalent to 13.18 trillion won earned by the country’s top vehicle components maker Hyundai Mobis.

LG Group under younger-generation chair Koo Kwang-mo has been enhancing automotive business by leveraging on the company’s tech power.

After taking office in 2018, he selected automotive electronics and battery businesses as the group’s new growth drivers. LG Electronics shuttered money-losing to focus on the new field.

It acquired ZKW, an Austrian firm in lighting and electronic systems, and established LG Magna e-Powertrain, a joint venture with the world’s third-largest car part maker Magna International.

Mobility business helped to offset the losses from global economic slowdown.

LG Energy Solution and LG Innotek achieved the highest quarterly sales, and LG Display has been upping output of smaller panels for automotive displays to compensate for slumping sales of TV panels.

LG Electronics projected order backlog in vehicle component solutions to reach above 80 trillion won by the end of the year.

By Lee Sae-ha and Jenny Lee