LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo was reportedly in talks with Tata Motors chairman Cyrus Pallonji Mistry on supplying vehicle components, industry sources said Tuesday.

According to LG, Koo and Mistry met in late August, when the latter visited South Korea with top executives in the vehicle business. LG vice chairman Koo Bon-joon and Lee Woo-jong, head of the vehicle components department, accompanied chairman Koo at the meeting after giving the Tata delegation a tour around the LG campus in Incheon.

“The meeting was arranged on Tata’s request. Our chairman is believed to have introduced the group’s overall vehicle component business in Korea and India,” an LG spokesman told The Korea Herald.

Car components have become a next-generation business for LG since June 2013, when the business group merged all relative units into the VC division.

But what draws more attention from market experts is LG and Tata’s possible collaboration on the electric vehicle production. LG is regarded as one of the global powerhouse in EV batteries, camera modules and motors while Tata is known to be devoted to mid-to-small EV development as a means to edge out its market competitor and India’s largest carmaker Mahindra.

“We have had global carmakers showing interest in our businesses. We believe that there is more room for cooperation,” an LG official was quoted as saying to a local newspaper.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)