Hyundai is a self-grown South Korean brand of automobiles established in the 1960's. Presently part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the motor company has registered a steady growth over the past few decades, having successfully entered European and American markets. The assembly lines operated by the company were built to match its size, the manufacturing facility in Ulsan being able to produce 1.6 million units per year.
Founded by Chung Ju Yung, born into a poor family of farmers, the Hyundai Motor Company became the first Korean car producer. The grounds for founding a car company could not have been more welcoming since post-war years in Korea brought forth a series of odd politics one of which stated that automobile imports were better than having a Korean car brand.
Yung was quick to fill the void, having raised enough capital for the investment from his very profitable construction business, opened in 1947. One year after its birth, the Hyundai Motor Company signed a technology-share agreement with Ford in 1968. Soon after Hyundai's access to Ford's resources, the first Hyundai car was developed: the Cortina. This model was quickly followed by the release of the Pony, Hyundai's first entirely Korean designed and built model. Its blueprints however, were not all-Korean, the company having used Japanese technology from Mitsubishi to develop the car.
Hyundai is currently operating in 193 countries, selling vehicles through approximately 5,000 showrooms and dealerships. Sales have also aided image growth, the brand having entered the first 100 most valuable brands of the world. Its recent history is strongly connected to investments in technology and ample advertising campaigns. Indeed, communication is one of Hyundai's inherent elements, best described by their logo: the stylized H is in fact a representation of two men (brand-buyer) shaking hands. |
