Hyundai powers ahead

Dr. Woong-Chul Yang, Vice Chairman, Hyundai Motor, and the head of Hyundai-Kia R&D, explains how his company is striving to be the most-loved, but not necessarily the biggest, car company-with the help of technology and powertrain leadership from Seong-Hyon Park, Hyundai's President of Powertrain.

“We are aiming at annual sales of 6.5 million units. We are not going to add new production plants, except those already [under] construction and announced,” was an unexpected remark by Dr. Woong-Chul Yang, Vice Chairman, Hyundai Motor, and the head of Hyundai- Kia R&D, at the annual Hyundai-Kia Powertrain Conference held in the autumn of 2011 at Namyang, South Korea, the home of Hyundai-Kia R&D.

Blitzing the market with sheer numbers was not obviously Hyundai's intention or strategy, as Vice Chairman Eui-Sun Chung, son of the Chairman, said in his “New Thinking, New Opportunities” speech at the 2011 NAIAS: “Our goal is not to become the biggest car company; our goal is to become the most-loved car company.”