Blog / Detail

Hyundai makes good on its global ambition

Posted by Hootan Mahallati | August 19, 2009 | In founder's thoughts hyundai news

In February 2003, I traveled to South Korea for a week of business development in the Korean auto industry. Appropriately, my first stop was a huge industrial complex outside Seoul, home to a certain Hyundai-Kia.

My local colleagues and I spent most of the day in meeting after meeting, where inquisitive Korean engineers were visibly interested in learning as much as they could about the engine simulation products we were selling them.

On the way to lunch, which comprised of cabbage-heavy soups and delightfully spicy kimchee (can one ever get enough cabbage? I mean COME ON, throw in another vegetable every now and again), I saw a banner across the complex’s main boulevard (yes, it was that big) and all I could make out among the Korean letters were the numbers 5 and 2010. I asked one of the Hyundai engineers what the sign said and he responded, “oh, it’s our company’s goal, to be a top 5 global car company by 2010.” "How bold," I thought, "but never say never."

At around 6pm that day, they suggested we go have dinner at the cafeteria. “Great, more cabbage” I groaned quietly, but at least the marathon day was going to end with food, my other passion besides cars. Once we had stuffed ourselves with more soaked cabbage, I assumed we were all going home. However, one of the engineers shocked me by saying, “no, we go back for second shift.” You see, THAT was how they were going to reach their corporate goal: by working twice as much and twice as hard as the competition.

You know what? It worked. Yesterday, Hyundai surpassed Ford to become the fourth largest automaker in the world, as measured by sales. According to the Automotive News Data Center, Hyundai-Kia has sold 2,153,000 cars so far this year, compared to 2,145,000 for Ford. Even if you count the Nissan-Renault combination as one entity (that combination has sold 2.6M units to date), Hyundai remains in the Top 5.

While it must not be so easy being a Hyundai employee, you have to admire the company’s resolve and remarkable leaps in product improvement that have led to this watershed moment in the Korean maker’s history. Hyundai-Kia is doing to Toyota-Lexus-Scion what Toyota-Lexus-Scion did to the German companies: push them with more for less. Winning the North American Car of the Year award should have been taken as a battle cry, as was committing to a 100,000 mile warranty, as was the Hyundai Assurance Program, as was being first to accept cash-for-clunkers. You get the picture: this is one company on a tear, and it is not slowing down.

For any car company struggling in the marketplace – you know who you are – may I suggest keeping your cafeteria open for dinner?

No Comments