Kolon Industries Co., the chemical and fashion unit of South Korea’s Kolon Group, is gearing up its efforts to expand its presence in the global airbag market that has been burgeoning at a double-digit rate every year. The company, in particular, plans to up its airbag production in Vietnam, Mexico and China to nearly double its global airbag sales to 600 billion won ($543 million) by 2020.

Kolon Industries announced on Monday that it has acquired an airbag sewing facility located in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam at 17 billion won from Hanyoung Int’l Co. The factory churns out 7 million airbags a year. Separately, the company aims to start to run a recently constructed airbag factory with an annual production capacity of 3 million in the northeastern state of Coahuila in Mexico this month. In China, the company has also decided to up output at the airbag factory in Nanjing by 600,000 units by next year.

The company plans to use Mexico a gateway to the North American market and Vietnam to the Asian and European markets. Following the new acquisition in Vietnam and the completion of the expansion and construction of the facilities in China and Mexico, the company’s annual airbag production capacity worldwide is expected to grow about 30 percent to 46.6 million from 36.0 million units that are currently manufactured together in its Korean and Chinese factories.

In a bid to expand its presence in the rapidly growing Chinese market, Kolon Industries is also considering increasing output in the second airbag line in Jurong and building a third factory in another area.

The company’s latest efforts to grow its airbag business come in line with the growth in the global auto sales that has resulted in a rise in demand for airbags. The global airbag market has annually grown at a more than 10 percent pace on average, and about 380 million airbags were sold last year.

“We project a bright future for the airbag market over the long term considering that airbags are increasingly installed in not only a steering wheel to protect a driver but also other passenger seats,” said an unnamed official of the company. The company currently commands about 10 percent in the global airbag market, with 380 billion won in sales last year.

By Kang Young-woon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]