Hyundai Motor's Quiet 53rd Anniversary... Overseas Subsidiary Heads Meeting Also Held Untact

Hyundai Motor's 53rd Anniversary on the 29th
Quiet Atmosphere Without Separate Events or Commemorative Speeches
Year-End Discussion-Style Overseas Subsidiary Heads Meeting Also Online This Year
Chairman Chung Euisun Urges "Full Effort to Recover Overseas Sales Next Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Su-yeon Woo] Hyundai Motor Company, celebrating its 53rd anniversary, quietly marked its birthday this year without any special events. Amid the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and growing uncertainties in next year's business environment, the company is focusing on strengthening its fundamentals and wrapping up the year.

According to industry sources on the 29th, Hyundai Motor, which marked its 53rd founding anniversary on this day, decided to spend the day quietly without any commemorative speeches or ceremonies. Due to the trend of refraining from face-to-face gatherings amid the COVID-19 situation, and as union members decided to convert their anniversary leave to be used on the 31st of this month, the company plans to continue normal operations on the day.

The overseas subsidiary heads meetings, which were regularly held every July and December, were also simplified and conducted online this year due to the impact of COVID-19. Since becoming the Group Chief Executive Vice Chairman in 2018, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun has personally chaired these meetings, delivering key management strategy messages such as 'V-shaped rebound recovery' and 'strengthening region-specific responsible management systems.'

This year's meeting held earlier this month was conducted as an online video conference chaired by each company's CEOs, including Hyundai Motor President Lee Won-hee and Kia Motors President Song Ho-sung. After the meeting, Chairman Chung reportedly received a separate report and urged all efforts to recover overseas sales next year.

Hyundai Kia Motors Yangjae-dong Office / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

At this meeting, Hyundai-Kia Motors reviewed this year's sluggish overseas sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reestablished production and sales strategies by region in anticipation of overseas market recovery next year. Up to November this year, Hyundai-Kia Motors sold 5.758 million units globally (domestic + overseas), a 12% decrease compared to the previous year, and the annual sales record is expected to be around 6.5 million units. This achievement rate is about 85%, far below the 7.54 million units target set at the beginning of the year, similar to the 87% achievement rate in 2017 when the company faced difficulties due to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) incident.

However, the automotive industry, including Hyundai-Kia Motors, expects that overseas market demand, which has been delayed so far, will revive once the COVID-19 vaccination campaign accelerates and the situation stabilizes next year. According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, global automobile market demand is expected to increase by 11% to 84.02 million units next year, and Korean automobile exports are expected to rise by 23% to 2.34 million units compared to this year.

To prepare for this, Hyundai-Kia Motors discussed differentiated response strategies by region at this meeting. First, for the U.S. market, which is showing a rapid recovery trend, they reestablished a demand-elastic production and supply strategy. For the European market, they discussed ways to accelerate the transition to eco-friendly vehicles in line with strengthening carbon neutrality policies.

For the India region, which has rapidly emerged as one of the four major overseas markets, a strategy was proposed to strengthen the lineup of locally strategic models and enhance local exports. In the Chinese market, where performance recovery has been slow for several years, plans were mentioned to regain market share by launching new models with advanced high-tech technologies and electrification strategies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.