HONGSEONG — South Chungcheong Province Governor Park Soo-hyun has secured a $13.5 million (about 18.7 billion won) investment from global auto parts maker Webasto, marking the first foreign investment attracted during his term. Webasto will expand its plant in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, and build a new production line for automotive battery packs.
The province said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Webasto Group and the city of Dangjin at the Steigenberger hotel in Frankfurt, Germany, on the 25th, local time. The signing ceremony was attended by Park, Webasto Group Vice Chairman Marcel Bartling, Dangjin Mayor Kim Ki-jae and Webasto Korea President Kim Wan-il.
Under the agreement, Webasto will invest $13.5 million within the next five years to expand its existing plant in the Songsan 2-2 foreign investment zone in Dangjin. The expanded plant will house a new production line for automotive battery packs. Webasto pledged to help expand local employment through the expansion, while the province and Dangjin will provide administrative and financial support, including permits.
Founded in 1901, Webasto is one of the world's top 100 auto parts makers, producing vehicle roofs, heating and air-conditioning systems and battery systems. It operates more than 50 sites across North America, Europe and Asia, with 13,100 employees and revenue of 4 billion euros as of last year.
Webasto has built an electric-vehicle battery production base in Dangjin, where it has manufactured battery systems since 2022. The company built the Dangjin plant after winning orders for EV battery systems from Hyundai and Kia, and expanded its capacity by completing a second battery plant in 2024.
"Webasto has been a solid partner that has grown together with South Chungcheong since 2020," Park said. "This expansion investment will serve as a turning point that raises the competitiveness of South Chungcheong's and South Korea's future mobility industry along with Webasto's growth."
Ahead of the investment agreement, Park visited the headquarters of global chemical company BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on the 24th, examining ways to strengthen the competitiveness of the Daesan petrochemical complex in Seosan and to achieve carbon neutrality.
BASF has operated a bio-based surfactant plant at the Daesan complex in Seosan since March 2025. Park took note of BASF's integrated production system known as "Verbund," which uses the byproducts and waste heat of one process as raw materials and energy for another. "The virtuous-cycle system called Verbund is the greatest value that BASF, with its 160-year history, can boast of," Park said. "I hope such value can have a positive influence through partnership with Korean companies."
