Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday it had begun the construction of its open mobility innovation center in Singapore.

The automaker held an online groundbreaking ceremony for its new global lab called Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore, or HMGICS, at Hyundai-Kia Motors Namyang R&D Center and Jurong Town Hall in Jurong, in western Singapore.

The ceremony was held online by connecting the venues in the two countries by video link in consideration of the COVID-19 situation.

The ceremony was attended by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun.

Hyundai said the HMGICS is an open innovation base where the group will research the entire value chain of a customer’s automobile life cycle, from ordering a car to production, test driving, delivery and service, to present a new mobility paradigm.

Planned for completion by the end of 2022, the HMGICS will be built in Singapore’s Jurong Innovation Complex on a site of 44,000 square meters, with a total floor area of 90,000 square meters and seven stories above ground.

The innovation center will be equipped with a customer test-drive “sky track” with a total length of 620 meters, an air mobility take-off and landing site and solar panels for eco-friendly energy production. In the future, the company plans to further expand the use of clean energy without carbon dioxide emissions through hydrogen fuel cells, the automaker said.

Chung said in his welcoming speech, “Hyundai Motor Group will improve the quality of customer life based on the HMGICS’ vision of human-centered value chain innovation. ... We are confident that the innovations that will be implemented through the HMGICS will change our future and contribute to human development.”

“We need to make the HMGICS a new milestone in bilateral economic cooperation with Singapore,” Minister Sung said. “The key to that success depends on how well we can harmonize Hyundai Motor Group’s vision with Singapore’s strengths.”

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)