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Hyundai Motor to set up lab in Singapore for EVs, future tech

A photo taken on February 10, 2020 shows a general view of the entrance to the Hyundai Motor Asan Factory in Asan, south of Seoul. - Hyundai has had to suspend production at its factories across South Korea, putting 25,000 workers on forced leave and partial wages, hamstrung by a lack of parts with the coronavirus outbreak crippling China's industrial output. (Photo by Yelim LEE / AFP) (Photo by YELIM LEE/AFP via Getty Images)
The entrance to the Hyundai Motor Asan Factory in Asan, south of Seoul, 10 February 2020. (PHOTO: Yelim Lee/AFP via Getty Images)

By Kyunghee Park

(Bloomberg) -- Hyundai Motor Co. is setting up an innovation centre in Singapore to develop and test technology across the automotive supply chain, including trialing the manufacturing process for electric vehicles.

Construction of the facility in Jurong Innovation District will be completed in the second half of 2022, the Seoul-based carmaker said in an emailed statement Tuesday. The centre will focus on future concepts that can be used globally.

Hyundai Motor is spending 20 trillion won (US$16 billion) by 2025 on new technology as the industry moves toward electric and autonomous vehicles. Singapore, like many other countries, is offering incentives to encourage the adoption of EVs and build more charging stations by 2030.

In October, Dyson Ltd. abandoned a US$2.5 billion plan to build electric cars in Singapore because the maker of vacuum cleaners and hair dryers couldn’t find a way of making the project commercially viable. Ford Motor Co. closed its factory in the city-state about 40 years ago, effectively ending car production on the island.

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.