Hyundai technicians arraigned over leaking secret technologies to Chinese automaker

Shanghai. December 18 (Gasgoo.com) – Two Hyundai employees were arraigned by local police on charges of selling secret auto design data to Chinese automaker Jianghuai Automobile Corporation, Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported last Friday.

 

Korean persecutors said the two Hyundai technicians at issue had sold 270 pages of papers on Sonata transmission design  and 3000 pages of papers on car exterior and auto parts designs to China's Jianghuai Auto for USD$1.2 million.

 

A Swiss company hired by Jianghuai to manufacture these parts found that Jianghai's car designs are identical to Hyundai's and reported their findings to Hyundai Motors, the report said.

 

In response to this scandal, Jianghuai Automobile Corporation, or JAC for short, said they had no knowledge of Hyundai Motors' leaking story.

 

Jianghuai had been in cooperation with Hyundai Motors for years in production of commercial vehicles. For example, Jianghuai MPV Refine was developed from Hyundai's MPV H1. The cooperation finally came to an end when Hyundai decided to form a joint venture project with Guangzhou Auto.

 

Prior to this case, five former and active employees of Kia Motors were indicted in May for selling auto technologies to China. Persecutors said they delivered 57 pages of corporate secrets to a local consulting firm established by some of Kia's former employees since late last year. In Kia's leaking case, Data on welding, assembly and quality control were leaked to two unnamed Chinese automakers.