ㅇ SKC’s PEN film adopted to ‘New Prius,’ Toyota’s third-generation hybrid car
ㅇ Company plans to expand film sales as materials for hybrid vehicles in U.S., Japan, and Europe

Toyota adopts SKC’s PEN film for New Prius model

SKC (President Park Jang-seok) has entered the field of core part materials for eco-friendly hybrid vehicles. SKC said on June 24 that its Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) film had been adopted as a main material for components of the Prius, a vehicle produced by Toyota, Japan’s top automaker. Toyota Motor recently developed the New Prius, its third-generation hybrid vehicle, and has begun a massive sales campaign. The auto giant will start selling its vehicles in Korea around August.

Hybrid vehicles and PEN film

Hybrid vehicles, which have emerged as a mainstream trend in the area of eco-friendly automobiles, require stable insulation even amid harsh weather conditions. SKC’s PEN film (trade name: Skynex) has been adopted as insulation film material for key components of the Prius. Thus far, Toyota has been getting supplies of film materials for its hybrid vehicles only from Japanese companies, since the materials require high quality standards.

An SKC official said, “In the wake of a supply agreement with Toyota, the world’s largest maker of hybrid vehicles, we plan to expand our sales to global automakers, including those in the U.S., Japan and Europe. We also expect demand for PEN films will increase robustly in tune with the expansion of the hybrid vehicle market.”

Characteristics of PEN film

Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) film is a type of polyester film. PEN film is widely used as a core material for high-density magnetic recording tape, electric insulators, photo film, condensers, semiconductors, audio systems, and office automation devices, as it is superior to PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) in terms of mechanical, thermal and chemical characteristics. It is reported that only SKC of Korea and Teijin-DuPont of Japan are capable of producing the product.