Sonny is exactly what Los Angeles FC and MLS need
LOS ANGELES – When Son Heung-min was substituted in his final game for Tottenham Hotspur after a decade last Sunday, it took more than three minutes for him to get through the hugs and applause from all the players and leave the pitch.
The hugely popular South Korean attacker helped define an era at the English Premier League club, and he'll be deeply missed by teammates, staff and Spurs fans.
Son is joining Los Angeles FC for a record fee in Major League Soccer of about US$26 million – more than the total wage bill of the West Coast club, according to the Los Angeles Times.
That might seem like a gamble on a 33-year-old whose trademark speed has started to fade, but his grace, technique and composure should still see him light up a team that has struggled for goals this season.
And that's barely half the story. What makes this a truly astute move for LAFC is Son's immensely bankable star power. His name might be less familiar to many Americans than Lionel Messi or David Beckham, but in South Korea and among its diaspora, his celebrity and reputation is almost unsurpassed.
Son's move should be a shot in the arm not just for LAFC on the pitch, but also for MLS as the sport scrambles to build interest and capitalize on next year's World Cup being held in the US, Canada and Mexico.
It's hard to overstate Son's importance to Tottenham over the past decade – on the field and off.
Off the pitch, he has built a huge following for Spurs among Korean fans. Thousands attend Spurs matches, and 'Son' named team shirts outsell all others with as many as 700 being shifted on matchdays, according to The Athletic. In Korea itself, one-quarter of the 51 million population claimed to be Spurs fans in 2022, according to research commissioned by the insurance company and team sponsor AIA Group Ltd.
All this is worth up to US$80 million in revenue per season, according to an estimate in the Daily Mail.
America is about to get a taste of this fervor.
Los Angeles County is home to the biggest Korean population outside the country itself. The community has been buzzing since rumors of his move began, Kyeongjun Kim, a writer with the biggest US Korean-language news organization told the LA Times.
'The passion and influence of Korean and Korean-American soccer fans should never be underestimated,' Kim said. 'Son's arrival at LAFC will benefit not only the club but the league as a whole.'
And MLS could do with a boost.
There have been grumbles from club bosses about viewer numbers since Apple Inc. paid US$2.5 billion for 10 years of exclusive broadcast rights and made it available only to streaming subscribers.
League commissioner Don Garber revealed for the first time last month that games were attracting about 120,000 unique viewers to Apple TV. These numbers aren't comparable to audited linear TV figures, so the revelation prompted confusion, but many in the sport are convinced that audiences have shrunk compared with what games on ESPN used to attract.
Another worry is that Messi will retire soon.
The Argentinian lifted match attendances and sponsorship money across MLS on joining Inter Miami in 2023. When the 38-year-old finally stops playing, fans and brands could drift away, too. This happened when Beckham left LA Galaxy in 2012.
Despite Miami's rapid growth since Messi arrived and league-leading revenue of US$180 million last year, the Florida club remains second to LAFC in the Forbes ranking of most valuable MLS franchises. Worries about whether it can keep these commercial gains hold Miami back.
Bringing older star names to American soccer to win supporters and audiences has long been the US model: Before Messi there was the imperious Zlatan Ibrahimovic and way before Beckham there was Pele. But Sonny's fanbase and commercial clout trumps many of these names.
It remains to be seen what the future holds but one thing for sure, Sonny playing in the MLS will definitely be a plus to the league. BLOOMBERG
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More than 12,000 EV charging stations were in use nationwide in 2024, and the government aims to have 3.9 million by 2030. Leading up to Tesla's entry on July 15, Mr Musk had criticised the high import duties, remarking that they were 'the highest in the world by far, of any large country'. The United States is negotiating lower automotive tariffs as part of the India-US trade deal. Tesla, which competes in the luxury EV sector, has ruled out manufacturing in India, according to Heavy Industries Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Operating on a different model in another part of the cost spectrum is Vietnamese EV-maker VinFast, which was named one of Time's 100 most influential companies in 2024. It is taking orders for two premium SUVs, which will be priced in the range of 1.8 million rupees (S$26,500) to 3.5 million rupees, according to Indian media reports. VinFast opened its first showroom in the city of Surat, in the western state of Gujarat, on July 27 and its second in the city of Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, on Aug 2. It has also tied up with local partners to create a charging network and for after-sales service, with plans to launch 35 dealerships by the year end in 27 cities. According to VinFast's press release, its car assembly plant in Tamil Nadu is the company's third operational facility globally. The facility, which is part of a 160 billion rupee investment pact inked between VinFast and the Tamil Nadu government in 2024 , will initially make 50,000 vehicles per year. VinFast Asia chief executive Pham Sanh Chau told NDTV news channel: 'This plant lays a solid foundation for us to make Tamil Nadu not just a manufacturing hub for India, but also VinFast's largest export base for South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.' 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In 2024, 99,165 electric cars were sold, which is a 20 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. EV growth in India has been led by two- and three-wheelers that accounted for a majority of the over two million EVs sold in 2024. The growth is not coming from the entry-level segment, but SUVs – where cars start at around one million rupees – and the premium segment. Consumers with more purchasing power, who own more than one car and are aware of environmental concerns, are likely leading the trend, said analysts. When Mr Surinder Gera decided to replace his 11-year-old diesel car with an electric SUV, he spent as much time convincing his 21-year-old son, with whom he runs the family clothing manufacturing business, as he did researching cars and the charging infrastructure. The family already owns a petrol car. 'He told me it's too much of a risk, as we travel a lot for our business. But I convinced him. I wanted to bring down my family's carbon footprint,' said the 47-year-old businessman, who is based in the northern Indian city of Ludhiana. In addition, Mr Gera charted every location he had visited in the last five years to see whether charging stations were present along each route. He settled on an SUV made by domestic automobile company Mahindra & Mahindra, which fell within his budget. Mahindra's electric car line-up starts at around 1.5 million rupees. Vocal for local Unlike in other parts of the world, where Chinese EV companies have been rapidly increasing their market share, domestic manufacturers dominate the market in India. China's BYD's, the world's biggest EV-maker, had a US$1 billion investment plan rejected in 2023 amid geopolitical tensions between India and China. So BYD scaled down its plans for India and relies on its assembly plant in the southern city of Chennai, which has an annual capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 units. BYD also imports many of the cars it sells in India. Things may improve for Chinese companies as China and India seek to repair ties following a 2020 clash on their border . More on this topic China's BYD plans push into India's burgeoning electric car market Tata leads with over half of the market share in the electric car segment, followed by MG Motor, which is a joint venture between India's JSW Group and China's Saic Motor. They are followed by Mahindra & Mahindra and China's BYD. Tata Motors, which once had a 70 per cent share, is finding its dominance in the Indian market challenged as more competitors come in with new car models and offer innovations like allowing buyers to lease EV batteries. In response, Tata Motors plans to have around 15 models by 2030. Mahindra & Mahindra in 2024 also announced plans to introduce seven new EVs by 2030. Long and winding road for foreign car brands Newcomers face a squeeze between the competition and aspirational buyers who want multiple features at a low price, said EY's Mr Mulgund. 'India is a very heterogeneous market. There is the rural and urban divide. Building up a dealership and service is no mean feat, and finding the right partners takes time. It can be built, but it's a longer gestation period,' he said. 'The (EV) market is not massive. Price becomes a critical part of any proposition. Indian customers are also ambitious. They want a car at the right price point but want all the bells and whistles. That is a difficult proposition to beat. You need a certain level of scale to deliver that.' Government push In order to push foreign carmakers to manufacture in India, the government in 2025 launched the Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India. Under the scheme, Customs duty is cut to 15 per cent, provided that automakers invest a minimum of 41.5 billion rupees within three years. They can then import 8,000 electric cars with a cost, insurance and freight value of US$35,000 subject to the 15 per cent tax. So far, Tesla has not shown interest, while other car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Skoda-Volkswagen, Hyundai and Kia have indicated interest, according to Mr Kumaraswamy, the minister. Volvo Car India's managing director Jyoti Malhotra told news agency Press Trust of India that, given the level of investment required, the company would do best to continue to assemble its cars in India, as it is doing, for now. As more benefits are seen, and we anticipate bigger scale, then we can evaluate others, he said. For India, going electric is an environmental imperative, given how pollution levels are climbing in its urban centres. According to the World Air Quality Report 2024 by Swiss air-quality technology company IQAir, Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world and India is the world's fifth-most polluted country, down from No. 3 in 2023. Vehicular emissions contributed 51.5 per cent to Delhi's pollution. Delhi has banned 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol cars, and on July 1, banned even the refuelling of such cars. Ms Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said: 'For India, electrification is not just an opportunity to clean up the environment, but it is also an industrial opportunity.' She noted that the government, apart from implementing manufacturing schemes needed to strengthen charging infrastructure, also needed to incentivise consumers more, citing measures like free parking for EVs. 'In India, you require industry to develop its manufacturing capacity adequately. You need a supply chain of critical minerals and battery manufacturing. But the supply chain will evolve only if the (automobile) industry perceives there is a demand in the market. Both have to go hand in hand.'
