He started off by stating the statistics of the show. Over 188 component and automobile manufacturers from 11 countries are participating in the show this year. A total of 29 new cars will be shown to the public including several models never before seen.
When asked about the financial effects of this particular motor show, the President said: "Considering not only new auto demand creation, but also economic ripple effects such as employment, production, tourism and transportation, Seoul Motor Show's economic ripple effect is forecast to reach approximately 800 billion won[US$853 million].
What's more, export business talks are likely to attract 8,000 overseas buyers." The president emphasized that the Seoul Motor Show is famous for presenting more diverse collateral functions than any other motor show in the world. This is true, as the Show includes such events as the Car Design Seminar, Telematics Forum, Collegiate Car Design Contest, 4WD event, Car Lottery, and a User-created Content Contest. In fact, there may be too many events for one person to see even in the ten days of the exhibition. Moon spoke about the future development plans of the Seoul Motor Show as well. Starting from the year 2007, KAMA will do its best to make the Seoul Motor Show the fifth best international motor show befitting the fifth largest automobile manufacturing economy in the world. He said: "On top of that, our Association will strive through high level exhibitions, diverse incidental events and a perfect exhibition venue operation." The Association will pursue a rational, future-oriented policy and vision about pending automotive questions in the industry, and try to foster the development of Korea's automotive industry so that the Seoul Motor Show can have a more direct impact on the automotive industry's development.
For the last topic, President Huh was asked about the relationship between the auto industry and Automotive Telematics. He responded by saying: "Automotive telematics is a stable field, which creates new profit by constructing differentiated spheres in the auto industry." He went on to say that the auto industry and telematics industry already have a very close relationship and focus research and development investments on engine and electronics telecommunication components. Infotainment, navigation and security equipment are all telematics applications.
They can boost the convenience of automobile users and also contribute to vehicle sales by being a value-added feature. Such telematics applications have previously been the options only of high-priced and middleaged consumers, but in recent years telematics applications have become affordable to and desired by younger consumers, and now have a much wider application.
