Car wash culture is changing completely. The car wash culture, which is becoming more trendy in vehicles, is no longer a foreign culture. Interest in car washing is more intense than ever, to the point that the word “detailing” has been coined instead of the word car wash. In particular, as the proportion of expensive imported cars increases and the attention of young people shifts from housing to automobiles, vehicle management is also becoming more professional and fragmented. Mainly for the younger generation, car washing has moved away from the meaning of “keeping the car clean” and has transformed into a game and a cultural domain. Detailing is short for Auto Detailing, which was first used in the UK, and nowadays it is called detailing without Auto. Starting from the basics of car washing, it refers to a series of works to restore the condition of a new car without replacing parts of the vehicle, such as cleaning, prewashing, bone washing, iron removal, tar removal, fallout removal, oil film removal, engine compartment cleaning, and paint surface restoration work such as sanding, cutting, and polishing, and coating and protection work such as waxing, glass water-repellent coating, and tire dressing. If you add to this the internal cleaning, the process is complicated and the equipment and drugs required for detailing are difficult to remove. As more people are interested in detailing, the related industry is exploding, and there are companies that are attracting a lot of attention by bringing and distributing the best detailing products from Germany to Korea. In this magazine, we searched for the protagonist ‘GS Chemical’ (CEO Song Si-young) and conducted intensive coverage.

 

Based on many years of accumulated experience at GM Korea, only the best premium products are distributed in Korea 

GS Chemical is a spin-off company from Geosong International (CEO Song Si Young). Geosong International is an automobile parts company that has been developing and distributing auto parts for a long time. In line with the recent trend of expanding the electric vehicle market and the expansion of the automotive detailing market, GS Chemical was established and separated and independent to diversify its business. The products handled by GS Chemical are vehicle detailing products such as car washing, cleaning, and polishing products from Koch-Chemie in Germany, and the products are currently imported to a Korean distributor and distributed to the domestic market. Based on the many years of experience accumulated at GM Korea, the company sells only products that have been declared and approved to the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (government agency) after the verification and testing stage, and all products sold and distributed by Geosong Chemical are released only products that have proven safety and performance after signing up for product liability insurance that considers the safety of consumers. 

 

The German luxury car brand’s choice of detailing ‘Koch-Chemie’ is also introduced in Korea

Designed using the periodic table of elements to eco-friendly biodegradation in a systematically aligned product system

First of all, the German Koch-Chemie company, founded in 1968, produces a range of premium car wash cleaning and polishing products across industries including automotive, agricultural, aviation, marine, commercial and residential, and is now available in more than 70 countries worldwide. In particular, it is a product tested and approved for use by luxury car manufacturers and certification bodies such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which is used for cleaning and polishing of new vehicles of the brand before leaving the factory and it raised brand awareness. Song Si-young, CEO of GS Chemical, said, “Koch-Chemi products are designed using the periodic table of elements and have a systematically aligned product system. It is certified for the quality and environmental management system (DIN EN ISO 9001 and 14001) required by the German VDA, and surfactants from renewable raw materials are used to ensure eco-friendliness and ESG practices, so that all surfactants and complexes used in the production are easily biodegradable. In addition, the absence of harmful ingredients such as halogenated hydrocarbons, EDTA and APEO in formulation and production is a great advantage.” 

 

With a variety of premium products from professional to consumer, ready to lead the domestic detailing culture

The Koch-Chemie products supplied to Korea by GS Chemical consist of two main product lines: professional and consumer. Professional use is a product that started from industrial products for cleaning aircraft, ships, etc., and has been improved into car cleaning products, and is a considerable high-quality product. It consists of products that are perfect for use in polish shops and car washes, as well as pre-car wash cleaners, shampoos, waxes, polishes, and indoor products that wipe down dashboards and handles. There are also indoor coatings, leather multicleaners, leather protectors, and dozens of products ranging from under-the-wall cleaning products to coatings that can make the engine safer at high temperatures. Consumer use likewise consists of many product lines. It consists of a variety of products, from shampoo to polish, which is the most basic need when washing a car. There are a variety of products such as Speed Glass Cleaner, a glass cleaner that is excellent at removing dirt and stains including oil and insects, ‘Pifresh Cockpit Care’, which cleans plastic parts inside the car, ‘Reactive Wheel Cleaner’, a wheel cleaner that is acid-free and has excellent melting, gloss and beading effects, ‘Nano Magic Shampoo’ that retains existing waxing and coating and forms up to a water-repellent nanolayer, ‘One Cut and Finish’, a high-gloss polish containing sealant, and ‘Micro Cut’, a micro-polishing compound that can remove fine sanding marks the size of P3000 particles from any paint (including scratch resistance), etc. 

 

Multi-purpose cleaning product ‘All-round Quick Shine’ creates a clean and glossy surface with just one use

One-stem compound ‘micro-cut’ with high plume horsepower and no dust at all

Among the consumer products that boast excellent performance, simple use, and fine detailing, the most representative products are the ‘Allround Quick Shine’ and the micro-polishing compound ‘Micro Cut’. ‘Allround Quick Shine’ is a versatile cleaning, maintenance and painting surface protection product that can provide a clean and glossy surface treatment in one step. It is an ideal product for dashboard care and post-processing of painting and glass surfaces after cleaning, and for quick finishing. Song said, “With a single use, you can get a clean and glossy surface treatment. It’s a versatile cleaning and polish that can be used everywhere in the car, from glass to plastic to interior finishes.” ‘Micro Cut’ is a finish-grade medicinal material, so it does not have a rough feeling, but it is highly viscous. In addition, it has a polishing power of 2500 grit and has a higher polishing power than general medicinal materials. It can be used as a one-step compound, and it does not produce any dust, so it is very popular not only among the general public but also in shops specializing in detailing. GS Chemical currently handles about 40 types of Koch-Chemi products, and plans to bring additional products into Korea in the future that have been inspected by the relevant agencies and certified for safety. There were many challenges before GS Chemical imported the products as a distributor of Koch-Chemie products. At the German headquarters, the company wanted to be a partner in line with the company’s business philosophy, not just a seller, and the products could only be imported after the two companies agreed on a business plan, policies and sales direction.

 

A nostalgic air freshener, a premium car freshener that captures the feeling of an international getaway ‘Amio Perfume’

In addition to Koch-Chemie products, GS Chemical also imports air fresheners for vehicles from Amio, a company that supplies perfumes to the French perfume company Chanel, and distributes them in Korea. Born in France in 2010, ‘Imao Perfume’ is a product launched as an automobile brand by two brothers and sisters who inherited the know-how of their father, who was an expert in aeronautics, to create luxurious scents with creative and innovative materials. Amio Perfume is a substantial premium product that is different from other air fresheners, created by a French perfume designer, and in fact, the expertise and ingenuity of the perfume designer are fully expressed in the product, resulting in a very attractive scent. Amio Perfume is also a highly safe product that meets strict European safety standards with carefully selected ingredients. Amio Perfume consists of 5 spray types in Capri, Bali, Madagascar, Tokyo and New York, and 11 Hanker-type card products in Tokyo, Sydney, Sri Lanka, Saint-Tropez, Paris, New York, Miami, Madagascar, Capri, Bora Bora and Bali. All of them are named areas of international tourist destinations and resorts, and are designed with scents that can feel the joy of traveling to various resorts. Amio Perfume is considered to be more like a perfume than an air freshener, with the biggest feature being that the first scent, the middle scent, and the last reverberation after spraying like a high-end perfume are slightly different. The spray-type product protects the optimal scent at normal times and disperses the fragrance uniformly with a few sprays, and the card air freshener has a streamlined design that is quite good for the interior of the vehicle. It creates an elegant and modern atmosphere, and the subtle fragrance is attractive. 

 

▲ GS Chemical / CEO Song Si-young

Aggressive marketing and promotion to promote the excellence of Koch-Chemie and Amio Perfume in the future

Last month, GS Chemical exhibited and sold French luxury Imao air fresheners along with premium car wash cleaning and polishing products from Germany’s Koch-Chemie at the ‘2023 Mobility Show’, the top mobility exhibition in Korea, and received an explosive response from visitors to the exhibition. In closing, Mr. Song Si-young, CEO of GS Chemical, said, “We sell a wide range of Koch-Chemie products, including motorplast, a vehicle engine compartment cleaner, wheel cleaner, and Koch-Chemie heavy cut, which boasts a high gloss, along with Amio perfumes. Although it has not yet received recognition since its launch on the market, both products are substantial premium products. In the future, we plan to promote the excellence of Koch-Chemie and Amio Perfum to the Korean market through aggressive marketing and promotion.”

신태섭 기자  tss79@naver.com