From 1.5 Million to 26 Million: My 38-Year Journey Through the Automotive Industry

August 3, 1987: A Sharp Question at the Yongin Training Center

On the day I took my first steps into society, having honorably completed my military service as a Navy officer, my heart was filled with intense passion. On August 3, 1987, my very first destination as a newly minted Kia Motors engineer was the Kia Group Training Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

Inside the lecture hall, where a tense silence filled the air, the Chairman of Kia Motors at the time, Kim Sun-hong, stood before the new recruits. Without warning, he threw a sharp, unexpected question at us:

"Does anyone here know the total number of registered vehicles currently running on our nation's roads?"

After a brief pause, the correct answer emerged: "Approximately 1.5 million units."

At the time, even that number felt massive. It was an era when the "My Car" boom—the dawn of mass motorization—was just beginning to unfold in South Korea. Every single vehicle on the road felt like a driving engine of the nation's economic growth. Standing at the starting line of that great journey as an engineer filled me with immense pride.

Nearly Four Decades Later: Imagination Becomes Reality

Thirty-eight years have passed since that day, and the automotive market has achieved a breathtaking, almost intimidating level of hyper-growth.

The vehicle registration count, which was a mere 1.5 million, has now surged well past 26 million units. With South Korea’s population hovering around 50 million, we have truly entered an era of "one car per two people"—effectively meaning nearly every adult owns a vehicle. Moving far beyond a simple commodity, the automobile has now become an essential part of life and a personalized space that reflects individual lifestyles.

This transformation is about much more than just numbers. Having started in the analog era, working with purely mechanical engines and transmissions, I now find myself in the exact center of a revolution where electrification rules, software dictates vehicle architecture through Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), and autonomous driving is becoming the norm. The future we dared not even imagine back at the Yongin Training Center has become our daily reality.

Reviving 38 Years of Records in This Space

From the days I held my first drafting tools at the Kia Motors Automotive Component Research Institute, to the 26 years I spent intensely leading advanced systems development projects within the Project Management Office (PMO) at Bosch in Germany—the heartland of automotive technology—my 38-year career has run completely parallel to the explosive growth trajectory of both the Korean and global automotive industries.

Throughout this quarter-century at Bosch, I was deeply privileged to lead, manage, and oversee the evolution of vehicle intelligence, from foundational safety systems like ABS and Airbags to Engine/Transmission Control (ECU/TCU) and Autonomous Driving Domain Controllers.

Through this digital lab, I intend to share the technical insights, global project management expertise, and cross-cultural corporate philosophies I gained on the front lines of the industry. I also hope to offer a unique perspective on the structural and behavioral differences between European and Korean corporate dynamics, viewed through the eyes of a Korean engineer who spent decades navigating a premier European organization.

The story of an engineer who walked the path from the era of 1.5 million mechanical cars to the age of autonomous mobility begins now.

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