2. Establishment of DENSO Korea Sales Corporation

(1) South Korean Sales Base with 100% DENSO equity

On November 25, 1997, DENSO (which changed its name from NIPPONDENSO in 1996) established DENSO Korea Sales Corporation in Seoul with a 100% equity stake. The first President & CEO was Mikio Takeshita, who started the business with four employees.

DENSO Korea Sales, as DENSO’s group company in South Korea, was in charge of sales support services that had been consigned to POONGSUNG Precision and started sales to Korean car companies.

On the other hand, when South Korea overcame its currency crisis in the late 1990s to the early 2000, advantageous conditions began in the Korean automotive industry. The Korean automobile products market became a battleground for major overseas enterprises as the Korean automotive industry was on the rise to become the world’s fifth-largest car producer. Major global giants such as Bosch and Siemens in Germany and Delphi, Visteon, and TRW in the United States scrambled to supply parts to the South Korean automobile products market.

DENSO Korea Sales, while competing fiercely with them, supplied injection systems, pumps, and other parts related to the engines of various automobiles; brake systems such as ABS; windshield wipers; and horns directly imported from Japan through Toyota Tsusho to develop its competitiveness in the Korean market.

The establishment of DENSO Korea Sales thus plays a role as a subsidiary of DENSO and an advance base for global sales and sales activities in South Korea, and it is significant that DENSO Korea improved its position in South Korea through assertive sales activities.