Not a Chaser but a Game Changer... Why Chung Eui-sun Encouraged a New Role

"Leading Future Mobility" Hyundai Motor's Structural Reform
Shift from Car Manufacturing to Service Industry, Increasing Importance of Software
Singapore Innovation Center as Prototype for Next-Generation Factory

Automobile companies are manufacturers. The company's competitiveness is measured by its ability to produce cars with good performance, durability, and fuel efficiency at low cost. However, it is uncertain whether this formula will hold true in the future mobility market. This is because vehicle manufacturing technology has become more standardized in line with the electrification trend, and the increasing importance of software has accelerated the trend toward vehicle electrification.

In autonomous driving situations where vehicles connect with each other and with surrounding infrastructure, providing a "smart solution" has become more important than simply offering a "good machine." This is why the future changes are expected to be completely different from the flow that began with the invention of the automobile in the late 19th century and continued for over 100 years.

Chairman Chung Euisun of Hyundai Motor Group

Jung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, said at the 2019 New Year's ceremony, which he presided over for the first time after becoming Vice Chairman, "I deeply felt that the industrial paradigm shift is in full swing," adding, "What used to be divided into imagination and future realms has become reality, leading to full-scale competition without boundaries between industries and the formation of entirely new game rules different from before." It was also at this event that he encouraged employees to become game changers.

The shift in focus from manufacturing to service industries can be seen in the recruitment and promotion of Song Chang-hyun as CEO of Forty Two Dot. Song, a developer who majored in computer science at Iowa State University and Purdue University in the U.S., worked in domestic and international IT industries such as Microsoft, Apple, and Naver before founding the current company that develops autonomous driving solutions.

Despite some negative views from inside and outside, Chairman Jung invested a huge amount of money in this company and appointed Song as President of Hyundai Motor Group. Song oversees autonomous driving technology, mobility solutions, and the group software center to be established in the future. Although his rank is equivalent to that of the company's Chief Technology Officer (CTO, Head of R&D), this is considered a symbolic change in Hyundai Motor Group's R&D organization, which has long been dominated by mechanical engineering graduates.

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun is presenting the New Year's management strategy and direction together with key executives at the New Year's meeting held in January at Hyundai Motor and Kia Namyang Research Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. From the left, Song Chang-hyun, Head of TasS Division and President in charge of Vehicle SW, Park Jung-guk, President of R&D Division, Chairman Chung Eui-sun, Jang Jae-hoon, President of Hyundai Motor, and Song Ho-sung, President of Kia.
Hwaseong ? Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The Global Innovation Center (HMGICS) in Singapore is another example that clearly shows the changed management environment compared to the past. This facility serves as a complete vehicle factory producing electric vehicles and acts as a mother factory prototype for future Hyundai Motor Group factories to be built or transformed. It aims to automate logistics such as parts while monitoring the entire manufacturing process in real time.

Typically, complete vehicle factories increase in size to achieve economies of scale, but this factory has a production capacity of 30,000 units per year, about one-tenth the size of existing factories. It is believed that small-volume, multi-variety customized production can sufficiently reduce manufacturing costs. At the groundbreaking ceremony in 2020, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, "The Singapore Global Innovation Center is the world's first facility of its kind and will be a significant leap forward for Hyundai Motor Group."

At the Pony Coupe restoration model unveiling event held in Italy last May, Giorgetto Giugiaro (left in the photo), who designed the vehicle, and Chairman Chung Eui-sun are seen talking after getting into the car.

Chairman Jung's recent interest goes beyond individual products or brands to concerns about corporate identity. Actively sharing the sometimes uncomfortable development story of the Pony both inside and outside the company is part of this effort. The Pony was a model developed in the early days of the company, led by Jung Se-young, the younger brother of Hyundai's founder Jung Ju-young. Jung Se-young was a key figure in establishing and growing Hyundai Motor and suddenly left the company in the late 1990s after transferring shares to his nephew, Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo.

At the Pony Coupe restoration model unveiling event last May, Chairman Jung Eui-sun said, "We are here today thanks to the efforts of founder Jung Ju-young, Chairman Jung Se-young, Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo, and all of us." He summarized that the work of Jung Ju-young in founding Hyundai and building roads, Jung Se-young in developing our independently developed vehicles, and Chung Mong-koo in refining quality were all contributions to making our society more comfortable in terms of mobility.

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