SEOUL, June 19 (UPI) -- The Hyundai Automotive Group will increase its research and development staff to 10,000 within a few years to accelerate technology development.
Chung Mong-koo, chairman of the Hyundai Automotive Group, comprising Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, said in a ceremony for the completion of a research center for next-generation vehicle development at Seoul National University that the group's R&D staff will be expanded.
"We will enlarge the domestic research staff to more than 10,000 in a few years, after adding some 300 people to the current 6,200 within this year," Chung said. "R&D staff overseas will also be amplified by threefold to more than 1,200."
The new research center is the first and largest one of its kind at a South Korean university, with an estimated cost of $11.6 million. Its focus will be on developing technologies for innovative new cars.
