LG Electronics Inc. has invested more than 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in its automotive business in the recent five years, its report showed Thursday, as the South Korean tech giant eyes beefing up its future growth engine.

The investment from LG's vehicle component solutions (VS) division was 587.8 billion won in 2017, 1.7 trillion won in 2018, 629.3 billion won in 2019 and 472.1 billion won in 2020, according to the company's business report. It plans to spend 613.8 billion won in 2021.

LG's five-year investment tally of 4.02 trillion won in the VS business was slightly lower than that in its main cash cow home appliance business, which recorded 4.26 trillion won.

Among LG's business units, only the home appliance and vehicle component divisions have accumulated investments of over 4 trillion won in the five-year span.

The VS division, which was created in 2013, has been in the red for the past five years, but LG expects to make a turnaround this year and predicts the unit's sales will expand through 2024 with an average annual growth of 15 percent.

LG plans to run its automotive business with three main pillars -- infotainment, powertrain and auto lighting system.

The company recently launched a joint venture called Alluto with Swiss-based software firm Luxoft, which will develop solutions for a digital cockpit, in-vehicle infotainment, passenger-seat entertainment and ride-hailing systems based on LG's webOS Auto platform.

In the powertrain sector, LG inked a deal last year with Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. to establish a joint venture, which will produce electric vehicle powertrain parts.

The joint venture, tentatively named LG Magna e-Powertrain, is scheduled to be launched in July.

In the automotive lighting business, LG pins high hopes on ZKW Group, an Austria-based firm, which the company acquired in 2018.

In regards to autonomous vehicles, LG has teamed up with US wireless tech giant Qualcomm Inc. to develop a platform for 5G connected cars. (Yonhap)