Hyundai Motor Company

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The Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) Template:Kse, a division of Hyundai Motor Group, is South Korea's largest car maker. It is also the world's seventh largest car maker and operates the world's largest integrated automobile manufacturing facility in Ulsan, South Korea. Hyundai means "modern" in Korean. Its official slogan is "Drive your way". The Hyundai logo, a slanted, stylized 'H', is symbolic of two people (the company and customer) shaking hands.

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History

Chung Ju-yung founded the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company in 1947. Hyundai Motor Company was later established in 1967. The company's first model, the Cortina, was released in cooperation with the Ford Motor Company in 1968. In 1975, the Pony, the first Korean car, was released, based on Japanese technology from Mitsubishi. It was exported starting the next year.

In 1986, Hyundai began to sell cars in the United States, and the Excel was nominated 'Best Product #10' by Fortune magazine, largely because of its affordability. The company began to produce models with its own technology in 1988, beginning with the midsize Sonata.

Starting in 1998, Hyundai began to overhaul its image in an attempt to establish itself as a world-class brand. Hyundai's parent company, Hyundai Motor Group, invested heavily in the quality, design, manufacturing, and long-term research of its vehicles. It added a 10-year or 100,000 mile warranty to cars sold in the United States and launched an aggressive marketing campaign. Hyundai is now the fastest-growing auto brand in the United States and in 2004, it was ranked second in initial quality in a survey/study by J.D. Power and Associates. Hyundai is now one of the top 100 most valuable brands worldwide.

Since the edition of 2002 Hyundai became in one of the official sponsors of the FIFA World Cup.

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Business

In 1998, after a shake-up in the Korean auto industry caused by overambitious expansion and the Asian financial crisis, Hyundai acquired rival Kia Motors. In 2000, the company established a strategic alliance with DaimlerChrysler and severed its partnership with the Hyundai Group. In 2001, the Daimler-Hyundai Truck Corporation was formed. In 2004, however, DaimlerChrysler divested its interest in the company by selling its 10.5 percent stake for $900 million.

Hyundai has invested in manufacturing plants in the North America, China, India, and Turkey as well as research and development centers in Europe, North America, and Japan.

In 2004, Hyundai Motor Company had $57.2 billion in sales in South Korea making it the country's second largest corporation, or chaebol. Worldwide sales in 2005 reached 2,533,695 units, an 11 percent increase over the previous year. Hyundai has set as its 2006 target worldwide sales of 2.7 million units (excluding exports of CKD kits).

Hyundai motor vehicles are sold in 193 countries through some 5,000 dealerships and showrooms.

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Hyundai in the United States

Hyundai entered the United States market in 1986 with only one model, the Hyundai Excel, offered in a variety of trims and bodystyles. That year, Hyundai set a record for selling the most automobiles in its first year of business in the United States compared to any other car brand, a staggering 126,000 vehicles.

Initially well received, the Excel's faults soon became apparent. Also, efforts to bring costs down made reliability suffer. With an increasingly poor reputation for quality, Hyundai sales plummeted, and dealerships began abandoning franchises. At one point, Hyundai became the butt of many jokes and even made David Lettermans Top Ten Hilarious Mischief Night Pranks To Play In Space: #8 Paste a "Hyundai" logo on the space shuttle. CBS News Latenight Lateshow

Rather than drop out of the world's largest automotive market, the parent company of Hyundai began investing heavily in the quality, design, manufacturing, and long-term research of its vehicles. It added a 10-year or 100,000 mile warranty to its vehicles sold in the United States. Over time, both quality and sales dramatically increased. And the reputation of Hyundai cars improved. In 2004, Hyundai tied with Honda for initial brand quality in a survey/study from J.D. Power and Associates, for having 102 problems per 100 vehicles. This makes Hyundai second in the industry, only behind Toyota, for vehicle quality.

Hyundai continues to invest heavily in its American operations as its cars grow in popularity. In 1990, Hyundai established the Hyundai Design Center in Fountain Valley, California. The center moved to a new US$30 million facility in Irvine, California in 2003, and was renamed the Hyundai Kia Design and Technical Center (Kia is a sister brand of Hyundai). Besides the design studios, the facility also housed Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. (HATCI, established in 1986), a subsidiary responsible for all engineering activities in the U.S. for Hyundai. Hyundai America Technical Center moved to its new 200,000-square-foot, $117 million headquarters in Superior Township, Michigan (near Ann Arbor) in 2005. Later that same year, HATCI announced that it would be expanding its technical operations in Michigan and hiring 600 additional engineers and other technical employees over a period of five years. The center also has employees in California and Alabama.

Hyundai America Technical Center completed construction of its Hyundai/Kia proving ground in California City, California in 2004. The 4,300-acre facility is located in the Mojave Desert and features a 6.4-mile oval track, a Vehicle Dynamics Area, a vehicle-handling course inside the oval track, a paved hill road, and several special surface roads. A 30,000-square-foot complex featuring offices and indoor testing areas is located on the premises as well. The facility was built at a cost of $50 million.

Hyundai completed an assembly plant just outside Montgomery, Alabama in 2004, with a grand opening on May 20, 2005, at a cost of $1.1 billion. It is Hyundai's second attempt at producing cars in North America (The Hyundai Auto Canada Inc. plant in Quebec closed down in 1993). At full capacity, the plant will employ 2,000 workers. Currently, the plant assembles the Hyundai Sonata. Starting in 2006, the 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe is also expected to be assembled there.

In 2005, Hyundai pioneered a communications breakthrough by allowing Ed Voyles Hyundai in Smyrna, Georgia to become the first "deaf friendly" dealership in the entire world. The staff in this dealership are able to accommodate deaf customers with the use of American Sign Language and video conferencing phones.

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Model Lineup

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Passenger Cars

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SUVs and Vans

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Commercial Vehicles

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Hyundai in Pop Culture

  • In an episode of The Simpsons, Principal Skinner was upset when someone stole the "H" logo off of his "dream car": a 1979 Honda Accord hatchback. So, he tried unsuccessfully replacing it by stealing an "H" logo off of a Hyundai that belonged to one of the bullies on the show. This is likely a rip at the fact that "Honda" and "Hyundai" look and sound similar.
  • In the Family Guy episode, "Mr. Saturday Knight", Peter tries to become a Renaissance Fair jouster. While on his lunch break, the Black Knight's girlfriend tries to flirt with Peter. But since she was speaking in medieval-style old English, Peter gets confused and sticks a goose under her skirt, thinking that is what she wanted. When the Black Knight comes over, he tells her to "Get back in the Hyundai!". Later, in that same episode, Peter was able to defeat the Black Knight in a jousting contest while Peter's friend, Mort Goldman, tows away the Black Knight's Hyundai in anger. Tom Tucker gets the Black Knight distracted when he says in the announce booth "The owner of a blue Hyundai, your car is being towed."
  • In an episode of Farscape, Moya is being pursued by a Peacekeeper Raptor. When informed of the pursuer's maximum speed, John Crichton responds "The things a Hyundai, let's smoke 'em."
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See also

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Worldwide External links

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Main (Korea & Other)
Asia
Europe
Oceania
Africa
North America
South America
Other

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